


I'm ghost proof, baby!

by rosemary22



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Asexual Character, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Cat, Demisexuality, Gay Keith (Voltron), Ghosts, Haunted Houses, Haunting, Hurt Lance (Voltron), Light Angst, M/M, Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, Slow Build, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2019-10-03 20:40:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 46,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17291042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosemary22/pseuds/rosemary22
Summary: Keith and Shiro moved into great house. It is big, it is in their friends' neighbourhood, it was cheap, but it is believed to be haunted by a prankster. Good thing that Keith doesn't believe in ghosts.--rated T for swearing. lots of it. tags will be added as the fic progresses.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hellon my beautiful beautiful humans how are you doing?  
> so, i had this ready and i was going to post it but i lost the whole first chapter so i had to rewrite it and lfsajfoçidsjdfsjkjfçsd i'm lazy so lfsaofdjs
> 
> anyway, i hope yall enjoy this fic! hmu if u see grammar mistakes/etc, ok??? <3 let's go:

The cat’s tail moved and the boy sighed, sipping his green tea. He hated changes and he was not in the mood of seeing the reason he had to change, but what could he do? Ignore the cat forever? No, that wouldn’t do. He wouldn’t be able to anyway, that damn cat loved him and followed him anywhere. The cat jump onto the kitchen sink.

“Black, down!” He said. Black, startled, meowed loudly and jumped from the height, hitting the floor and sprinting away. He sighed, hoping the day wasn’t as long as it probably would be.

Keith was his name. He had lived in that apartment for a very long time with his brother, Shiro. Shiro had rescued Black when she was still just a small baby kitten, two years prior, all hurt and hungry. She had loved Keith at first sight, but Keith wasn’t a cat person, so he had ignored Black’s love at first. He’d then learnt Black wasn’t a typical cat, she was a weird cat. And for some reason that made her gain a spot on his heart – which he would obviously deny for as long as he lived.

As he walked past the living room, on the way to his bedroom, the dark corner caught his eye. Keith sighed. Objectively, he knew it wasn’t Black’s _fault_ per say. She hadn’t done it on purpose; she was a _cat_ , did cats even had the sense of intentionality? Probably not. Anyway, not her fault. But he couldn’t help but feel some bitterness towards her.

Keith was home alone one day when he smelled something burning

Black had started to scratch his bedroom door frantically, meowing loudly, so he opened the door, ready to tell her off, when smoke – a lot of it – entered his room and clouded his vision. His first reaction was to panic and freeze, but Black _bit_ his leg – which had been awful and hurt, but had actually saved Keith. Then he used the phone on his hand to call the firefighters and went to the living room, carefully, trying to find out where the fire was coming from.

He saw the remaining of a melted candle on the floor next to the corner where they kept their family photos and his heart sunk to the pits of his stomach as he watched his memories burn. Keith was smart, so he figured Black had probably knocked off one of the candles Shiro liked lighting up – against Keith’s protests of: ‘don’t light fire next to the family photos, they’re highly flammable!’

It didn’t matter. Keith was safe when the firefighters got to the apartment and put out the fire.

Shiro took it as his responsibility, obviously, and made it his life mission to make it up to Keith. Keith suspected he was just using all that as an excuse to avoid commitment with his fiancé and still move out from the apartment, as he had been saying he was planning on doing. So Shiro went after a house where they could move in together.

Despite Keith arguing that the apartment was still perfect and that they just had to be careful not to light candles on places Black could jump on top of, Shiro insisted that house hunting was needed, so Keith had followed him on a few trips. Their friends, the Holt, had actually found a house on their neighbourhood that interested Shiro.

Keith remembered going to the house and having the lady who showed them around be super excited about how cheap it was for its size. In fact, the house was big and weirdly affordable. The house had a decently sized front yard, two floors and an attic. The backyard was small, but existent. The top floor had three bedrooms and two bathrooms – one in the main room and one at the hallway. The bottom floor consisted in a big kitchen with a diner table, a bathroom, a room that used to be some sort of office and a living room with enough space for slightly bigger diner table and sofas, a TV and all that.

“I have to ask…” Keith had started and the lady nodded. “How come a house this big is this cheap?”

“Yeah…” Shiro agreed. “And it’s located in a nice neighbourhood…” The lady had sighed.

“Well… Some people believe this house to be… haunted.” She had said and shook her head. “Like I mentioned before, there might be some plumbing problems because the last two residents reported their shower water getting suddenly cold as ice, but they never got it checked. But apart from that… No one wants to live here because of the rumours.”

“Ghosts don’t exist, though.” Keith had said and Shiro had nodded. The lady smiled at them.

“I’m glad you agree. The last people who came here didn’t. And Mr. Johnson, the owner, likes to keep the rumours going.” She had shrugged.

Shiro had decided to buy the house the exact same day. Keith remembered Pidge being excited about having their best friend move to the spookiest house in the neighbourhood. If Keith was being honest, the only spooky thing about the house was its actual owner.

Big Joe, as he had asked to be called the one time Shiro, Keith and he had met to officially sign the papers and conclude the transaction, was a fat, short, white man with a Russian accent who wore a white suit and a white cowboy hat. He had told Shiro and Keith he would visit the house one last time, get all of the things he wanted from it and all that stayed would belong to them. Shiro agreed and the house was theirs.

After some time Shiro woke up, they finished putting their remaining belongings in the truck of Shiro’s car and said goodbye to their apartment forever.

As he made sure to ignore Shiro’s attempts to make conversation on the way to their new home, Keith watched the houses outside of his window and tried to get Black out of his lap.

“You should’ve put her in the cage.” Shiro said and chuckled. Keith just shrugged in response.

It wasn’t all bad, thought. Sure, Keith was excited to live closer to Pidge. The Holt would live two blocks away from his new house, so that was exciting. And Pidge was super anxious to introduce Keith and Shiro to all of their friends, which was, decidedly the thing that made Keith the less excited. But Keith hated changes.

They got to the house and finished taking the remaining of their boxes to where they were meant to go – kitchen, bedrooms, living room and attic – and Keith went to his new room to start unpacking. His phone vibrated.

 **Evil Gremlin: keef would u be angry if i invited hunk over?**  
**Keith: You are aware this is not your house, correct?**  
**Evil Gremlin: nvmd already asked shiro and he said yes thats y hes my fave between the two of u**  
**Evil Gremlin: matt and i r getting there early bc we wanna HELP k? k x)**

Keith sighed and smiled, locking his phone and putting it inside his pocket. He stared at the boxes and at his bed – which had come with the house, thankfully – and decided he could give himself some time to chill before starting the hard work.

“Hey, I made you some tea.” Shiro’s voice came from the door. Keith was sitting on the bed, so he just motioned for Shiro to enter. “Look, Keith, I know you didn’t want to move, but…”

“It’s fine, Shiro.” Keith grabbed the mug. “It’s just… A lot. And I don’t get why buy the house when you were so ready to move in with Adam when you two get married.”

“I know.” Shiro smiled at him and sat down on the bed. “I’m looking out for you. Now this is our property, so when I move out you won’t have to worry about paying rent or whatever. You could save up to buy another bike, for instance.” Keith hummed. “And I don’t know when that’ll happen, so…”

“Things haven’t been good between you and Adam?” Keith asked and sipped his tea. Hibiscus. He hummed, it tasted good. Shiro sighed.

“They haven’t been bad, they’re just… Off.” Shiro shrugged and sipped from his own mug; Keith assumed it was coffee. “I just want you to know you can talk to me if everything gets too much. I don’t want you to close yourself again. I know the incident was not… very pleasant for you.” Keith shrugged. “And I’m sure Pidge and Matt feel the same way, so… It doesn’t have to be me.”

“I’m fine. But I’ll keep that in mind.” Keith answered. “Thanks, Shiro.” Shiro patted his leg and stood up.

“Matt texted me and they’ll be here in an hour or so. Our neighbour, Hunk, will come over for diner too, so…” Shiro said and Keith nodded, watching him leave the room.

He had one hour. One hour was more than enough time to nap, but they had a lot of work to do. So Keith decided to nap for thirty minutes. As he woke up, he decided to go downstairs help Shiro unpacking the kitchen stuff. They’d have visits, so the kitchen was a priority.

The Holt got there when they were almost halfway through with putting everything in place in the kitchen.

“Hello, gays!” Matt greeted them, pulling them both into a hug. “Put! Me! To! Work!” He said, punctuating every word, and started rubbing his hands together as soon as he let go of his friends.

“You and I could start getting things ready here and Pidge can help Shiro with the kitchen.” Keith suggested. Matt nodded, clapping his hands together once. Pidge high fived Shiro and punched Keith’s arm playfully as a greeting.

“Good idea.” Matt said. “The kitchen must have more low places that Pidgey can reach.” He finished and was punched by Pidge right away.

It took them a few hours to finish up the kitchen, the living room, the bottom floor bathroom and the room that used to be an office and they would basically use as a place to store things like books and collectables that they didn’t want to put in their rooms. Once they were done with the first floor, Shiro and Matt went to Shiro’s room and Keith and Pidge to Keith’s room.

 “So, I’m assuming you want nowhere near my underwear.” Keith said, examining the boxes on the floor of his bedroom.

“Oh, no, actually I thought I’d finally have the chance to get in touch with your sexy briefs and use them to fuel my sexually driven fantasies.” Pidge sat down on Keith’s bed, their tone absolutely unamused as they adjusted their glasses.

“Be my guest, Pidgeon.” Keith chuckled. “I think… You could start putting the books up.” He said and hummed. “But you’ll probably need a stool or something. Because, you know, you’re short.”

“Fuck off, big guy, I’m still growing.” They said and grinned.

“I don’t think you are.” Keith answered and managed to dodge the pillow Pidged tried to throw at him, but only barely.

“I don’t think I asked.” Pidge rolled their eyes, still grinning. “So… Haunted house, huh? Excited?” Keith shrugged.

“Ghosts don’t exist, so, no.” He answered and Pidge hummed.

“I’ll give you, like, a month to change your mind.” Pidge shrugged. “Black!” They shrieked, making the cat that was at the door hiss and run away. “No! I missed you, don’t run away from me!” Keith laughed and Pidge glared at him. “I hate that this cat only likes you in the universe.”

“That’s not true, she likes Shiro too.” Keith answered and Pidge sighed. “I’m going to the attic to get you a stool, be right back.”

“Careful not to die in the process. Or do, it would be neat because of the irony.” Pidge said.

“Don’t worry. I’m ghost proof, baby.” Keith answered and Pidge chuckled.

Keith left the room and ignored Pidge talking about ghosts on his way to the attic. He pulled the door on the roof and, carefully, the ladder, so he could go up. It looked like it was in perfect condition, so he climbed up without worrying too much. As he reached the top, he found the light switch and turned the lights on. That place was a mess.

And it was creepy too. Boxes of things that had probably been left there by not only Big Joe, but also several former residents of the house, weird dolls scattered all around the place; Keith focused on trying to find the stool he had seen earlier that day. He could’ve sworn it was near the light switch, but maybe he had seen it wrong.

The attic covered the entirety of the house, which meant it was big and had space for _a lot_ of random stuff that he and Shiro would have to go through to choose what would stay and what would go. He sighed. And he could’ve sworn the light had gone out for an entire second. Maybe he was more tired than he had anticipated. A weird noise caught Keith’s attention.

“Black?” He asked, wondering if cat was strong enough to actually go up that ladder to the attic. No answer, but he did find the stool. Keith grabbed it and heard the noise again, behind him, so he turned around to check if it was Black when the light switched off. “Black, goddamn it!” He sighed. “How did you even get up here, cat?” No answer. “Are you even here?” He asked, more to himself than anything. A loud noise made him jump. “Fuck. What the fuck.”

Keith grabbed his phone and turned on the lantern, pointing it to the direction of the noise only to notice the door to the attic had been slammed closed. Keith rolled his eyes; Pidge was insufferable. He walked over to the light switch, tried fidgeting it a couple of times, but the light was still off; he had to remember to talk to Shiro about getting that checked. Keith opened the door, threw the ladder down again and climbed down, putting it up once he was on the floor and closing the attic door.

“Pidge you’re not funny.” Keith announced, getting into his room and finding a tall guy sitting on his bed, talking to Pidge.

“Firstly I’m hilarious, but also why are you saying that?” Pidge answered and adjusted their glasses. “This is Hunk, by the way.” Keith put the stool next to his bookcase and offered Hunk his hand.

“Hey, this gremlin talked a lot about you.” Keith said and Hunk smiled wide.

“They said a lot about you too, Keith! Nice to finally meet you, neighbour.” Hunk answered and Keith, honestly, started liking the guy right away. “Can I help in any way?”

“No, it’s fine, I don’t own a lot of stuff, Pidge and I can manage. Thanks, Hunk.” Keith smiled at him. “Here, so you can help.” He pointed to the stool. Pidge jumped out of the bed and grabbed the boxes with “books” written on them so they could start putting things into place.

“No specific order?” They asked; Keith hesitated, but just shrugged. Pidge nodded. “Why did you barge in saying I’m not funny though?”

“The attic door stunt you pulled.” Keith answered and started organising his clothes into his wardrobe.

“What are you talking about?” Pidge asked and Keith rolled his eyes.

“I went up to get you the stool and you closed the door on me is what I’m talking about.” Keith said. “When we had _just_ talked about…”

“Ghosts!” Pidge shirked. “Fuck yeah, Keith, you were haunted! Fuck, I wish I’d been there! How did I not notice?”

“Yeah, Pidge, sure.” Keith rolled his eyes.

“No, dude, seriously, I was here. Hunk got here as soon as you went up and we’ve been talking ever since.” Pidge answered and laughed loudly. “Oh, man, this is the best!”

“It’s true, Pidge didn’t leave the room. They were busy being upset about your cat not loving them.” Hunk said and smiled fondly. “This is weird, though… Usually it waits at least a few days before it starts the haunting.”

“It?” Keith asked.

“The ghost.” Pidge answered, going back to organising the books on the shelves. “Hunk’s been getting testimonies from previous residents and all that. So he kind of knows how it works. Tell him, Hunk.”

“From the data I’ve collected, it’s a prankster. Which means it doesn’t do people any harm, it just likes pranking people. So footsteps, noises, door slamming, things of the sort.” Hunk started and Keith sighed.

“He’s a sceptic, Hunk. So is Shiro. They’re perfect haunting material. I’d totally haunt them if I was a ghost.” Pidge said, animatedly.

“I expected more of two scientists.” Keith declared and shrugged, not stopping his work.

“We’re scientists, not fools, Keefer.” Pidge shrugged.

Pidge and Hunk kept on talking about the ghost and Keith just let them. It was useless fighting them. And he wasn’t the best at socialising with people he had just met, so he was thankful Pidge was there to mediate the interaction even if that meant talking about supernatural stuff that he most definitely didn’t believe in.

Pidge finished organising the books alphabetically by author’s surname and either book title or series order within the authors and had left the middle shelf empty, so Keith could decorate it with some Pop Funkos and other stuff he owned.

After some time, Shiro called them for diner. They had ordered pizza and Hunk had made them raspberry cheesecake, which was delicious. That triggered Matt glorifying Hunk’s cooking and them telling tales of how amazing of a cook Hunk was, which led to Hunk inviting Keith and Shiro over for diner someday, which led to Matt reminiscing about the usual encounters they held at Hunk’s. Hunk smiled fondly after Matt saying it had been a while.

“Yeah…” Hunk said. “A few years, I guess.” His smile didn’t falter, but Keith was good enough at reading people to know his eyes weren’t exactly happy. “But we’ve been meeting at the café, which is equally cool.”

“Maybe we could go back having the diners, though.” Pidge said, carefully. “We could alternate houses, watch movies, play videogames and eat…”

“Just like old times.” Hunk said and chuckled softly. “I’d like that…” He said and nodded.

“And maybe you could make that pie you used to? What’s the name of it?” Matt asked and hummed. “That one that La-“ he stopped himself for a second, coughed and continued. “The one that has the cream and the chocolate.”

“The Brazilian Dutch pie that my old roommate loved.” Hunk said. “It’s been forever since I made it.”

“I think Keith will like it.” Pidge said and smiled at Hunk, who nodded. A loud noise coming from the kitchen startled them. “What…”

“Black!” Keith shouted, rolling his eyes. No response. “She has probably knocked something over.”

Shiro glared at Keith and Keith shrugged. Shiro started talking about how he would love to hang out more and how he’d like to introduce Adam to the group, so the conversation resumed and some of the tension in the room faded away. Keith had caught up on it and on how Matt stopped himself from saying something, but he wouldn’t comment. He wasn’t one to pry.

Dinner kept going smoothly and Keith offered to wash the dishes, which was the Holt’s excuse to go home. Hunk, though, offered to help Keith out. Yeah, Keith definitely liked Hunk.

They chatted a little about how Keith and Pidge had met through Shiro and Matt’s friendship and how Pidge and Hunk had met when they were teenagers because Pidge had actually defended Hunk from some racist bullies who got terrified of their gremlin shrieks, as Keith had named them. Hunk was nice, Keith decided as an ultimatum. He made Keith feel comfortable enough to forget they hadn’t known each other until that day.

Hunk liked cryptids, Keith learnt, so they had one more thing they could bond over – besides, Keith was grateful that Hunk hadn’t pointed out the apparent hypocrisy it was liking cryptids and not believing in ghosts. They also talked about Buzzfeed Unsolved and how Hunk had never watched it, so they would definitely have to do it sometime. Once they were done with the dishes, Hunk left.

“So, that was nice.” Shiro said, using his fatherly tone and Keith rolled his eyes, smiling fondly. “I’m glad.”

“Hunk is great. Maybe moving wasn’t that bad.” Keith shrugged. “Night, Shiro.”

“Night, Keith.” Shiro answered and let Keith march upstairs to his room.

He grabbed his toothbrush and toothpaste and took it to the bathroom that was now his. Keith examined his face on the mirror and sighed. He looked tired, he had bags under his eyes from stressing out and not sleeping properly. Keith was glad no one had been pointing that out.

Pidge knew that he was stressed out of his mind. First the fire, then, losing his job. His old boss got the perfect excuse once he found out about what had happened and had let Keith go under the claim that he “needed more time to take care of himself after that scare”.

It sucked, but he would have to deal with that. Maybe he could use that spare time to actually take care of himself for a little. Keith walked back to his room calmly and lost his cool as soon as he saw the floor.

“Fucking hell, Black!” He shouted, walking past his books, scattered through his floor, so he could get the cat out of his bed. “Out!” He said and Black just meowed at him, curling into a ball. “Now!” Keith raised his tone. When she didn’t move he grabbed her in his arms and she hissed. Once he was near the bookshelf, Black started getting agitated and trying to get away from Keith, hissing at the books. “What the fuck is _wrong_ with you?”

She let her claws out and tried scratching the air, hitting Keith’s cheek instead. By reflex, Keith let go of her, taking his hands to his cheek and feeling some blood coming out of it. He cursed lowly and kept trying to get Black out of his room. She only gave up when Keith shouted at her one last time, pointing his slightly bloodied finger to the stairs.

Black sprinted down the stairs and Keith sighed. He closed the door to his room and went to the bathroom to clean his face quickly before going back to his room to organise his books back on the shelves. Somehow she had only knocked down the ones from the top shelf. Keith sighed again and finished organising things.

Before he went to bed, he realised there was still one book out of place. One of the books from the Mediator series, by Meg Cabot, had been placed alone on the middle shelf. He put it back where it was supposed to go according to Pidge’s system and texted them to let them know they had clearly misplaced one of the books.

Keith fell asleep to the sound of Black scratching his door so he would let her in.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Shiro finish organising their house and go out to Altea café so they can meet the rest of "the squad".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey yall  
> i already have quite a few chapters done, so this beginning might be really fast lol we'll see, we'll see.
> 
> anyway, thanks for the kudos and all. yall are the best <3  
> consider buying me a metaphorical coffee while you're at it ko-fi.com/playlandi
> 
> as always, any mistakes you find hmu so i can correct them
> 
> THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS: no lance yet. he's going to appear soon, i promise. i like taking things slow okay? but there's a lot of the squad and keith and shiro interacting

As soon as he woke up, Keith took his stuff to the bathroom and started organising it, putting everything into place. Black followed him and sat down on top of the sink, watching him. Keith sighed at the sight of the scratch on his right cheek and Black meowed at him. Keith nodded and caressed her back, showing her it was okay.

Black was usually a very calm, but very affectionate cat and if Keith didn’t know that cats couldn’t think he would’ve thought she had the impression she was a dog. The only person she didn’t like was Pidge, but only because Pidge harassed her a lot. It was their way of showing love, but Black didn’t like it. And she also didn’t like people being all over Keith, which Pidge usually was. Even though she was Shiro’s cat, she clearly loved Keith the most.

Keith finished putting his stuff into place, washed his face and went down stairs. He could smell freshly made coffee and toast.

“Morning.” Keith said and pulled a chair from the kitchen table so he could sit down. Shiro turned to him and smiled. Black jumped on top of Keith’s lap. “Stop following me around. Go with Shiro.” He said, but didn’t try to get her away from him. Shiro chuckled.

“Did she sleep with you again?” Shiro asked and served Keith scrambled eggs and a toast. Keith shook his head and stared at his mug, then back at Black. “I’ll make you tea, don’t worry. What happened to your face?”

“Thanks.” Keith sighed and started petting her. “We had fight yesterday, didn’t we, Black?” He ran his hand through her fur. “But today we had very serious talk and she promised she’s not wrecking my stuff ever again.” Shiro hummed.

“She’s been closer to you after the fire.” Shiro pointed out and Keith shrugged. He had noticed it too, but it didn’t really bother him. “I think she thinks she’s a dog.”

“She doesn’t think anything, she’s a cat.” Keith said and Shiro sighed, making himself eggs and toasts as the water for Keith’s tea boiled. “But if she’s supposed to have any sense of self-awareness as a cat, she doesn’t.”

“You like her.” Shiro said, accusingly, and chuckled. Keith shrugged again, biting his toast. “How did you spend the night?”

“Alright.” Keith said. “You?” Shiro hummed.

“It took me a while to fall asleep, but I managed.” Shiro admitted. “I think it’ll take a while to get used to having moved again. But it’s good. It’s finally a place of our own and that feels good.” Keith nodded. He didn’t mind living in a rented place at all, but if Shiro wanted the house, let Shiro have the goddamn house. It didn’t change anything as long as they were still together. Which was a bit complicated, since Shiro was engaged and eventually they wouldn’t be together anymore. Keith tried not to think about that a lot. “Do you have plans for today? I was thinking we could finish putting things into place and go through the stuff in the attic.” Keith hummed.

“There’s a bunch of crap there.” He said and Shiro chuckled. “Oh and, by the way, the light is not turning on. I went up there to get Pidge a stool and I had to use my lantern, so… We gotta check that out.” Shiro nodded, pouring Keith the water and putting the tea bag in his mug. Shiro served himself his food and filled his mug, which already had sugar in it, with coffee. “I’m done with my room and the bathroom, so if there’s anything else you need help with…”

“No, I’m just finishing the studies room and we can move to the attic.” Shiro said. Keith took some egg to his mouth. “And maybe we could go to town tonight. Matt texted me about wanting to introduce us to Allura and we could bond more with Hunk. He’s cool, right? Besides, it would be nice to make friends in the neighbourhood.”

“We already have friends in the neighbourhood. We have Pidge and Matt.” Keith pointed out and Black meowed.

“More friends.” Shiro said and sighed. “Come on, Keith. It’ll be fun. I’d invite Adam too, but he’s out of town until tomorrow. By the way, he’s sleeping over tomorrow night. He wants to meet the house. I didn’t tell him about the rumours of it being haunted.”

“Yeah, sure.” Keith said, knowing it was no use arguing with Shiro about that. He wasn’t in the mood for going out, but when was he, really?

His ideal bonding would be inviting Pidge over or going to Pidge’s and playing video games and done. He didn’t need to bond with more people in the neighbourhood, but he knew he didn’t really have a choice. Okay, maybe Hunk. Hunk was cool. Besides, Hunk was Pidge’s close friend, and Keith suspected Pidge had a crush on him too, so they would shove Hunk’s friendship down Keith’s throat no matter what. And if Matt was trying to convince Shiro to meet more people, Pidge and Shiro would both make sure Keith came along.

It wasn’t that Keith didn’t like people; he was way past that phase of his life. He was just very reserved. He didn’t like talking about himself much, he had a hard time opening up, he never knew what to talk about and his anxiety always got the best of him. He was terrified of having panic attacks in public and not being able to deal with them. He didn’t hate people, he just hated having to be in social situations he couldn’t control and would potentially have to talk about himself.

Keith finished his breakfast and told Shiro he’d be in his room. He washed his share of the dishes, plus the stuff Shiro used to make them breakfast and walked up to his bedroom. Black didn’t follow him that time, so he seized that opportunity to just chill on his bed alone. He caught his phone and started opening all of the apps to clear the notifications.

Hunk had added him on Facebook, so he accepted his request. He had also found Keith on Instagram, so Keith followed him back. He opened his chats and Pidge had answered him and added him to a group called “The Squad”.

**Evil Gremlin: tf u talking about keef**  
**Evil Gremlin: i didnt misplace anything u r insane maybe ur the one who dont know how to read**  
**Evil Gremlin: suck it**  
**Evil Gremlin: im adding u and shiro to our groupchat now that u r part of the neighbours gang :D**  
**Keith: Unfortunately I wasn’t awake to prohibit you from doing that.**  
**Keith: Shiro wants to go meet Allura tonight. Because your brother convinced him that was a good idea.**  
**Keith: Tell Matt I hate his guts, please.**  
**Evil Gremlin: u r going to love allura so dont be a bitch about it**  
**Keith: Who’s part of the groupchat, anyway?**  
**Evil Gremlin: u, me, shiro, matt, allura, coran and hunk**  
**Keith: There’s one more contact there.**  
**Evil Gremlin: yeah, but its just us**  
**Keith: Okay.**  
**Evil Gremlin: i gotta go help matt out with a thing, see u l8r allig8r**  
**Evil Gremlin: i can SEE u rolling your eyes from here just so u know**

Keith chuckled and shook his head. Pidge was great. Sometimes they were a lot, but they were great. Keith wondered who was that other contact in the groupchat, but he had gotten the message that Pidge didn’t want to talk about it, so he wouldn’t pressure them. He felt like it had something to do with Hunk’s old roommate, because it was as shady as Hunk mentioning them and Matt clearly not wanting to mention his name, but if they didn’t want to address that topic Keith wouldn’t ask about it.

Shiro knocked on his door a few minutes later and they went up to the attic together to start organising things. Shiro tried turning the lights on first thing and they all lit up. Keith frowned.

“The hell.” He said under his breath. “Maybe they’re failing?” Shiro tried switching them off and on again a few times and they didn’t fail once. “Is there more than one switch?”

“No. Just one.” Shiro said and Keith frowned harder. “Maybe you didn’t hit it right or something. You were pretty tired yesterday. Moving does that to people.” Keith nodded, but he was sure he had hit it correctly. He’d hit it the way he would hit any light switch in the universe. It didn’t matter, though. It was one less thing they would have to spend money with.

Big Joe had left a bunch of crap behind. Some empty boxes, some boxes with very ugly dolls in them, boxes of sports equipment – from tennis to equestrian sports and football and skateboarding –, a lot of candles, a Ouija board, a bunch of empty photo albums. There was a lot of crap. They separated the ones they would keep – all of the sports stuff that was in good condition, a Russian doll that Shiro had liked, but creeped Keith out, some of the candles that smelled good – and put everything else in boxes to throw them out.

That took them a few hours. They took all of the candles downstairs and put it somewhere Black wouldn’t mess with them for now, then they took the boxes with the things they were going to throw away and put them all outside. Keith considered keeping the Ouija board to prank Pidge and didn’t really get to a conclusion about whether he should do that or not, so he decided to put in one of the “no” boxes and let himself think for a while. The boxes would probably stay there for at least a day until someone collected them, so he had plenty of time to think about it.

Once they were done, Keith went to his bathroom to shower and get ready to go out with “the squad”. It was insufferable that even Shiro was referring to them that way now; and he’d only been a part of the group for almost a day. He didn’t even know everyone in the groupchat. Keith envied Shiro’s ability of socialising even though he had anxiety as bad as Keith’s. His anxiety was regarding other things, though, so maybe that was it.

Keith got dressed and decided to get the Ouija board from the boxes outside. Even if he didn’t actually get to prank Pidge with it, it was a fun thing to keep around, considering he knew that ghosts and demons were complete bullshit. As he approached his room holding the object, Black, who was inside his room, hissed at him. Keith glared at her and she stopped, but didn’t move from his bed; not an inch. He put the board on top of his highest shelf, where he was absolutely sure Black wouldn’t get it – he had told her the books were off limits and he thought she’d understand him somehow.

The drive to Altea was quiet. Shiro had put Abba on the radio and Keith was humming the songs quietly as he watched the scenery outside of the car. They drove past a park with some benches and some swing sets and Keith made a mental note to go check that place out at some point. The café was closed, so Shiro knocked on the door. A tall, black woman with long platinum hair opened the door for them, smiling widely.

If Keith weren’t very gay he would’ve probably fallen for her on the spot. And judging by the look on Shiro’s face, his brother was thinking the exact same thing. It was something about her smile and her aura that was just captivating.

“Hello.” She greeted them in an English accent. “I’m Allura. Come on in.” Keith decided right there that Allura was great. He liked Allura.

“I’m Shiro and this is Keith.” Shiro answered. They both entered the café and Allura led them to the counter, where everyone was sitting at already. “Hey.” Shiro greeted them.

“You’ve met Allura. This is Coran.” Matt said and introduced them. Coran played with his moustache and shook Shiro’s hand, then Keith’s. “That’s Shiro. And Keith.” Matt introduced them as he shook their hands.

“It is very nice to meet you, boys.” Coran smiled at them and sat back on his stool. “Matt talked a lot about you. You’ve recently moved into the haunted house, if I’m not mistaken.”

“Yeah, they live right next to mine.” Hunk said and smiled. “How was the night? Any spoopy stuff?” Hunk asked and Shiro chuckled. They sat down. Keith opened his mouth, but Hunk stopped him. “Yeah, yeah, ghosts aren’t real, I know you think that, but that doesn’t answer my question.”

“The scariest thing that happen was Keith screaming at Black.” Shiro said and chuckled. Keith felt his face warm up a little bit. “But she had her vengeance, so it’s fine.”

“Her _vengeance_? She made a mess of my stuff, I was just getting her out of the room before I lost my cool with her.” Keith huffed and pointed to the scratch on his face. “I was protecting her from myself and this is how she thanked me.”

“Does Black hate you now?” Pidge asked, smiling wide. “Oh my, I lived to see that day!” They turned to Coran and Allura. “Black is their cat.” Shiro nodded.

“No. Keith was compassionate and forgave her.” Shiro explained and Keith rolled his eyes. “He even talked to her and they agreed that his books were off limits, isn’t it right?”

“What happened, anyway?” Pidge asked, voice unamused. “So it’s just me that she hates…” They said, mumbling.

“She freaked out and dropped a bunch of my books from the top shelf. I don’t even know how she did that, she’s smaller than Pidge is.” Keith said and couldn’t let the opportunity of provoking Pidge slide.

“And Pidge needed a stool to reach the top shelf.” Hunk completed and Keith grinned. Keith was really glad he had met Hunk. Really, really glad. Pidge threw a small ball made of paper napkin on Hunk’s face and flipped Keith off. “But that’s odd. Spooky even.”

“It’s not spooky. It’s a rebellious cat.” Keith said and Shiro rolled his eyes. “Take Black in for two days and you’ll see what she does to your house. You’ll never be scared of ghosts again in your life after you face that menace.”

“You’re so dramatic.” Shiro said and chuckled. Keith crossed his arms in front of his chest and shrugged.

“Do you guys want a drink?” Allura offered and gave them the menu. “I can make you something.”

Shiro chose a drink with a lot of sugar in it and Keith chose a simpler drink with coffee and chocolate. When Allura was back with their drinks Shiro insisted on paying and she said it was on the house since it was their first time around; later on Matt told Shiro she always had an excuse to give them free drinks when they hung out at the café.

The group started talking. Coran asked them why they had moved to the house and Shiro told them about the fire incident, which led to Keith pointing out, once again, that Black was a hazard. Then Shiro continued the story, talking about how he always wanted to have a place of his own and that maybe one day, in a few years, his fiancé could move in or he could move out and leave the house to Keith, so it was also an investment for the future. Everyone listened closely and Coran commented on how responsible Shiro was.

They started sharing backstories a little bit; the usual thing people did to bond. Keith dreaded the moment he had told Shiro he was going with him. Matt told Coran, Hunk and Allura about how he knew Shiro from school times and how Pidge and Keith used to hate each other; he told them that they had joined the military together on their third year of university and that they had both lost their limbs – Shiro his arm and Matt his leg – on the same mission, so they joked around that they were platonic soulmates because even that they had done together.

Shiro told them that when he got back he was forcefully retired, so he went back to university and that he had graduated two years prior and now he was a kindergarten teacher. Shiro had double majored in Psychology and Elementary Education and finished studying when he was twenty five years old. He was now twenty seven and the happiest he’d ever been.

Pidge started telling the story of how Keith was an emo kid and how they had actually bonded over their mutual love for space an entire year after they had first met. Keith felt pressured to talk, so he explained, very briefly, how he had had anxiety ever since he was a child and that made it hard for him to connect with people. Shiro admitted that had been his main reason for getting into psychology and the conversation was, once again, not focused on Keith; to which he was grateful.

They spent a long time talking. Pidge told Shiro that they had met Hunk when they were teenagers and that they had been the one to get Hunk the house he lived in now. Hunk explained that he had been looking for a cool place to live with his best friend for a while and Pidge told him there were two houses in their neighbourhood, the one Hunk and his best friend had acquired and the one Shiro had just bought. As the story went on, Allura excused herself to the toilet and Coran looked at Matt, seemingly worried. Matt nodded and went after her.

No one mentioned it, but Hunk’s best friend wasn’t mentioned again for the rest of the night. When Allura and Matt got back, Coran was telling them all about a funny encounter he had had with Margaret, the crazy lady who had a lot of flowers in her house and treated the flowers as cats, that week. Apparently, she was really famous in the neighbourhood and hated Coran a lot. He didn’t mind it, he thought it was funny, really, because he would stand back and hiss at him whenever they met.

Keith had to admit, at least to himself, that he had had fun that night.

When they got home Black was asleep on the couch and Shiro went straight to his room. Keith decided to go to the kitchen instead and make himself some chamomile tea before he went to bed. He heard some footsteps in the living room, then a door opening and a while later he heard it close, and figured maybe Shiro had forgotten something in the car. Black entered the kitchen and stood next to Keith, who greeted her nudging her with his feet. Black meowed and he nodded at her.

Keith took his tea mug to his room and froze for a second when he turned on the lights. There was one of the creepy dolls they had taken out earlier that day sitting on Keith’s bed. Black hissed at the doll and didn’t leave Keith’s side. He, carefully, placed his mug on his bedside table and lifted the doll. It had straight brown hair and blue eyes – and was surprisingly heavy. Keith sighed and looked at Black.

“Did you bring this here?” Keith kneeled near Black, who hissed at the doll and tried scratching it, hitting Keith’s hand instead. “Jesus, Black, what’s _wrong_ with you?” Keith stood up and took the doll out of his room. If that had been Shiro trying to prank him he was going to get Shiro back, so he placed the doll strategically in front of Shiro’s door and walked to the bathroom.

Keith brushed his teeth, used the toilet and headed back to his room. Black followed him the entire time and as they walked past the doll, he had to hold Black in his arms so she didn’t attack the doll. What a weird cat, he thought.

Keith closed the door to his bedroom and put Black on the floor. She went straight to his bed and lied down on her usual spot. Keith grabbed his phone and told Pidge how Shiro had tried to scare him with that stupid doll, to which Pidge responded with a string of emojis of crying from laughter. Keith finished his tea and placed the mug on the floor, on a spot that was unlikely for Black to step on, just in case, so he didn’t hit it on his sleep and the cat didn’t break it by accident.

Black meowed to Keith and he hummed in response, hugging his stuffed hippo, like he did every night. He heard Shiro walking downstairs again and he couldn’t help but feel frustrated that Shiro hadn’t had any apparent reaction to the doll. Keith fell asleep pretty quick after that, despite the wooden furniture cracking loudly occasionally. He was tired form the gathering, but he was happy. He had liked hanging out with “the squad”, they were all pretty nice and Coran was really funny. Keith was happy, after all, so that was good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaanyway, i hope you enjoyed this chapter  
> i promise lancey lance will show up soon  
> really  
> i do  
> i just want to build up the whole scene first.
> 
> i hope you find the wait worth it :D  
> once again, feel free to buy me a metaphorical coffee at ko-fi.com/playlandi  
> i have other klance fics too, so feel free to check that out as well  
> see ya next chapter!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lights failing, footsteps being heard, broken lamps, things falling; Pidge and Hunk insist on ghost activity, but Keith remains certain ghosts aren't real. Everything can be explained properly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hellonnn  
> i'm going to travel tomorrow and i won't be back before the 14th, so i'm posting this tonight c:  
> i hope u like it
> 
> also consider buying me a metaphorical coffee at ko-fi.com/playlandi  
> any grammar mistakes pls hmu !! tks <3
> 
> THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS: a new character being introduced eyes emoji. lots of bros being bros !! pidge + hunk + keith being friends because that's my religion

Shiro denied to have been the one to put the doll on Keith’s bed, but Keith didn’t believe him. He had _heard_ the footsteps and Black wouldn’t have been able to get the doll from the box, then take it all the way to Keith’s room and place it properly on Keith’s bed while they had been away. She was a smart cat, but not a mutant cat. And that really didn’t explain the footsteps.

As the week passed, Keith got used to the wood creaking and how windy the house was. He still couldn’t get over Black’s apparent new found obsession of moving Keith’s things around and he honestly tried talking to her about it, but he remembered she was a cat and couldn’t understand a single word he said. There was one particularly odd occurrence in the middle of the week that made Keith start suspecting something was actually wrong.

On Friday night, Keith woke up in the middle of the night because he heard a loud noise inside his room. He turned the lights on and Black was next to him on the bed, but the Ouija board had fallen on the floor. Black woke up and started shaking; Keith held her on his lap for a while to calm her down, deciding that it wasn’t worth it to get up at that time for that stupid thing that had probably just slipped onto the floor. After that night, Black had spent the whole day out of Keith’s room, even though Keith kept his door open at the time.

She would, occasionally, stand next to his door and hiss at the Ouija board, which Keith had put back on the top shelf. Keith was playing Animal Crossing and video chatting Pidge, so he didn’t mind her at first, but by the fourth time around he shushed her away.

“ _Was that Black?”_ Pidge asked and Keith hummed. “ _Is she learning how to cat properly?_ ”

“No.” Keith sighed. “She’s been acting weird since last night. A thing fell from the bookshelf and it freaked Black out, apparently. So she’s taking a break from my room, I guess.” Black got back to Keith’s door and started hissing at the Ouija board again. “Fuck, Black, what’s wrong with you?” She meowed at him. “Do you want me to get rid of that thing? Is that it?” Keith put his phone and 3DS aside for an instant and walked near the object. Black stood still by the door and Keith got it from the upper shelf. “Be right back, Pidgey.” He shouted and Pidge hummed loudly.

Keith took the board back to the attic, because taking it downstairs was too much trouble, and locked the door behind him as he got back to the middle floor. He could hear Pidge saying things on his phone, so he quickly got back to the room and expected Black to follow him; she didn’t. She kept still by the door, staring at Keith’s bed. Keith shrugged and decided he was officially giving up trying to understand the cat.

“ _Stop messing around, Keith!_ ” He paid attention to Pidge.

“What?” Keith said and got his phone and console back, putting himself in the same position he was before having to move.

“ _That’s not funny, man, you know I believe in ghosts._ ” Pidge scolded him and he frowned, confused. “ _The walking around when you were supposed to be somewhere else. Oldest trick in the book, but still, assholish.”_

“You’re ridiculous, Pidge. You’ve been trying to get me to believe from day one with that joke with the attic door. I’m not falling for your tricks.” Keith said and Pidge frowned.

“ _What are you talking about? I thought you were joking about the door thing…_ ” Pidge said and their eyes widened. “ _You’re being haunted?!_ ” Pidge’s voice was very high pitched and Keith groaned.

“I’m ending the call right now, Pidgeon. Bye.” Keith said and was honestly ready to end the call, but Pidge started protesting.

“ _No, no! Listen! I’m coming over! Can I bring Hunk? I’m bringing Hunk! You’re being_ haunted _that’s so cool, you_ have _to tell us everything!_ ” Pidge was shrieking and Keith remembered why he started calling them a gremlin in the first place. “ _Is is okay if I come over? Is it going to piss the spirit off?_ ”

“Want me to ask?” Keith questioned, unamused. Pidge hesitated for a second. “I’m not asking, Pidge! I’ve started talking to Black and that’s as far as I’ll go in the crazy scale, pal.”

“ _Ask it._ ” Pidge said and Keith huffed. “ _From Hunk’s stories, we’ve stablished it’s not evil, right? Just a… What did Hunk call it?_ ”

“A prankster?” Keith saved his game on Animal Crossing and shut down his 3DS. Pidge nodded on the other side of the screen. “I’m not asking anyone anything, Pidge, stop. There’s no ghost, there’s no reason to be freaking out, this house is just old and makes noises. Shiro is the real prankster here.”

“ _Why Shiro?_ ” Pidge was confused and Keith could see they were dangling their legs from how much their phone was shaking in their hands.

“He tried pulling a prank on me with a creepy doll and when I confronted him, he denied it all. It’s stupid, since there’s no one else in the house and it couldn’t have been Black.” Black meowed and Keith felt a shiver go down his spine for some reason. Ugh, stupid room, getting cold out of the blue. “I’m gonna stop you right there and say it wasn’t a ghost. There are no such things as ghosts and even if they were real, don’t you think they would have better things to do?”

“ _Maybe it’s stuck in the house. Maybe it needs help moving on._ ” Pidge said, as if anything they were saying was somehow logical. Keith rolled his eyes. Black turned around and started hissing towards the stairs to the attic. “ _What’s wrong with Black?_ ”

“I honestly don’t know. Maybe the whole thing with the fire got her crazy or whatever.” Keith shrugged. “Black, stop it!” Black looked at Keith and meowed a few times. “Are you hungry? Thirsty? There’s food and water in the kitchen for you, you know?” She meowed again and turned to the spot she was facing before. “You’re coming with me this time, so you don’t go around accusing me of anything illogical.” He said, looking at Pidge, who started giggling, excitedly and saying something about ghost hunting that Keith decided to ignore.

Keith kneeled beside Black and she curled up in his arms, so he held her close and walked towards the attic door. The door was still locked, obviously, so he opened it up and hit the lights. They didn’t turn on. Keith cursed under his breath; stupid house, stupid lights, stupid damn cold attic. Black was making weird noises in his arms, so he examined the place and showed it to Pidge.

He looked for something weird, some reason for Black to be acting odd, but didn’t find anything out of the ordinary. The Ouija board was on the floor, a bit further than the place Keith thought he had put it. Maybe he was just mistaken and he had put the board on that exact spot. Yeah, that was probably it.

“Hey, Pidge.” Keith called, the lights turned on and Pidge shrieked. Keith looked up and frowned. See? It _was_ an electric problem. It had to be one. “Frist things first, I’d like you to come check our electricity if that’s okay.”

“ _Hunk’s better at it._ ” Pidge said, cautiously.

“But what I wanted to ask is…” Keith grinned. “Do you still want me to ask your ghost if it’s okay for you to come over?” He switched the camera to the back camera of the phone and Pidge started freaking out.

“ _Don’t you_ fucking _dare use that, Keith, you crazy fucker!_ ” Pidge was shouting. “ _Are you_ insane _? Where did you get that? Why are you keeping that? Why did you show me that?_ ” Keith turned back to the front camera. “ _Oh, God! That’s an even worse sight, go back to the Ouija board._ ”

“Shut up.” Keith rolled his eyes. “It came with the house. I kept it to prank you, but I never got to it until right now. That’s the shit that fell and freaked Black out.”

“ _You were keeping an_ Ouija board _in your room? Keith do you not love your life and wish to remain alive and breathing?_ ” Pidge sighed. “ _Get rid of that crap. No wonder Black is going crazy, Keef._ ”

“You sure you don’t want me to contact the ghost first? Ask it if it’s okay with you coming over or something?” Keith insisted and reached for the board. The lights went out and the door to the attic slammed hard, which made Keith jump, startled. Black hissed and dug her nails on Keith’s arm. “Fucking hell, Black!” He dropped her on the ground and she ran towards the door that was half open due to the rebound, leaving the attic.

“ _Hell no! I’m not about to witness the murder of my best friend on camera by a demon ghost!_ ” Pidge said and ended the call. Keith frowned and sent them an audio.

“You’d rather me die alone? I need better friends.” Keith sent the audio and waited for Pidge to listen to it. Pidge answered with a text that read ‘ask Hunk to go check the lights, throw that thing away and go fuck yourself on a stick’. Keith chuckled and texted Hunk.

He looked at the Ouija board, wondering if he should just throw it away, but he figured there were more ways he could prank Pidge. He wondered if he could go as far as convincing Pidge and Hunk to play with him at some point, so he could prove, for once and for all that ghosts weren’t real. Keith shrugged, put his phone in his pocket and left the attic, locking the door behind him.

Black was curled up in a ball on Keith’s bed, which was good. Back to normal, then. Keith shrugged and decided to make himself a cup of tea as he waited Hunk to text him back. He told Keith he could come over in 30 minutes, if that was fine by him. Keith agreed on it and waited.

When Hunk got there he asked Keith if it was okay for his check all of the light bulbs and light switches in the place before going to the attic. Keith agreed.

“Whatever you need, man.” He shrugged. “Do you want something to drink?”

“A glass of water would be fine. Thanks, buddy.” Hunk smiled at Keith and Keith nodded, smiling back at him. Hunk was a nice guy, Keith liked Hunk. Keith got Hunk his water and waited for Hunk to check the stuff he needed to.

As Hunk was examining the house, he started asking Keith about video games, since Pidge mentioned Keith liked to play them. They started sharing their favourite games and Keith told him about the time he convinced Shiro to play Majora’s Mask with him and Shiro got freaked out because the moon was too ugly, so finishing the game was very challenging for him. Hunk told Keith about how his old roommate really liked the Zelda franchise and how they would spend days on end playing the same games again and again, while Hunk, himself was more of a Mario fan.

Keith didn’t question Hunk, he just let him guy talk and listened, humming. He would occasionally comment something, but never about said roommate. He didn’t want to pressure Hunk into talking about something he – and everyone else – clearly had unresolved issues with. If he was meant to know about it, Hunk would explain it to him eventually. Or Pidge. Or someone. The conversation switched to music as they went to the second floor. Black was asleep in Keith’s room and Hunk hesitated before messing with the lights there, but Keith insisted it wasn’t a problem. Black was lazy and could just go back to sleep afterwards, anyway.

As they were done with the second floor, Hunk sighed and clenched his jaw, looking at the attic. Keith frowned.

“Pidge might have mentioned you have an Ouija board up there.” Hunk said and took a deep breath. Keith walked into the attic before Hunk, who hesitated for a second, but followed Keith into the room. “Spooky.” He said, in a low volume. Keith hit the lights, which turned on with no problem. “Ok, what’s exactly up?”

“I have no idea… Sometimes they turn on, sometimes they don’t, and sometimes they stop working and start working again all of a sudden.” Keith sighed and crossed his arms, leaning on the closes wall. “I mean… On the first night I turned them on and then they failed, then I hadn’t had problems with it again until today. It wouldn’t turn on at first, but I left the switch the way it was, so after a while I turned on. And then it was off again all of a sudden.” Hunk hummed and examined the light bulbs one by one.

“Honestly, Keith? There doesn’t seem to be a problem with the house’s electricity…” Hunk said and scratched his head. “All of the switches work, all of the bulbs are working, apart from that one in the guest room that was broken.” He hummed again. “These ones are also normal and the switch seems fine. I thought maybe it was a problem with the fuses, but the lights shouldn’t turn on again after a while if the problem was there.” Hunk hummed again. “I could… Try something…” He mumbled. “Could you bring me another glass of water?” Keith nodded and went downstairs to get Hunk more water.

He didn’t get it. How was everything fine if the lights were going on and off by themselves? Maybe Hunk needed to take a look at the wires, maybe the problem was there, not in the bulbs or the switches. But, apparently, the last family in the house had had a check up on the electricity wires some time before moving out and spent a lot of money solving all of the electric issued in the house – which was probably why they didn’t solve the plumbing one, they had spent too much with the electricity and then moved out.

Keith walked into the attic again and Hunk looked puzzled, standing by the light switch. He hit it to turn the lights off and then on again and hummed.

“Here.” Keith touched his shoulder, lightly and Hunk jumped.

“Jesus, Keith!” He said, under his breath. “You scared me.”

“Sorry.” Keith chuckled. Hunk took the glass and drank it all in a gulp, giving it back to Keith and thanking him. “So?”

“Nothing seems to be wrong with the lights, bud.” Hunk looked at him, apologetically. Keith hummed. “They didn’t fail _once_ with me… Maybe… Try doing what you were doing when they did?” Hunk offered and Keith sighed.

“I came here to check if something was wrong ‘cause Black was acting weird, but the lights didn’t turn on. So I decided to mess with Pidge, which was when the lights turned on by themselves, asking them if they wanted me to try contacting the so called ghost with the Ouija board.” Keith said and walked up to the board, grabbing it from the floor and lifting it up. Hunk tensed up. “And then the lights went crazy on me and turned off again. That was it.” Keith shook the object. “But right now nothing’s happening.”

“Did you intend on using the board?” Hunk asked and Keith took a deep breath. “Maybe the ghost was warning you that it wasn’t wise to do so.” Keith sighed.

“Hunk, buddy.” Keith said and looked into Hunk’s eyes. “Ghosts aren’t real.”

“If you have any other explanation for the lights and all of the weird shit that happens in the house, I’m all ears.” Hunk said and hugged himself. “Like how this room got cold all of a sudden.”

“It does that.” Keith shrugged and threw the Ouija board back on the floor. “This one and my room are the coldest ones in the house, that’s just how it goes.”

“Keith…” Hunk said and his stomach made a loud noise. “Ops.” Hunk said and they both broke into laughter.

“Wanna grab a snack?” Keith offered and Hunk nodded, smiling. The two of them walked downstairs in silence on the way to the kitchen.

“Yes?” Hunk said as they walked past Keith’s room. Keith frowned. “Keith?” Keith looked to Hunk from over his shoulder and hummed. “Didn’t you call me?” Keith frowned harder and shook his head. Hunk chuckled, visibly nervous. “Maybe I’m imagining things.” He scratched his head and Keith shrugged.

Hunk made them sandwiches and Keith decided he was going to upgrade Hunk to his new best friend, since Pidge had never cooked for him. And probably if they tried, they would end up fucking it up. Pidge was as good in the kitchen as Keith: they knew how to make eggs, toast, tea, coffee, salad, noodles and rice. And that was it. Keith knew how to make French fries and fried chicken too, but that was where he drew the line.

They ate and talked about Hunk’s major – he was studying to be an engineer, just like Pidge was – and about how Keith had chosen not to go to university and he had just lost his last job at a restaurant, so he taking a small break before going after a new one. Hunk mentioned that Allura needed help at Altea and Keith told him he was going to text her about it at some point.

Hunk left after a few hours, after Shiro had arrived home from his day out with Adam. Keith thought he would bring Adam home, but he was alone and clearly didn’t want to talk about it, so Keith let it be. They had dinner together and Shiro excused himself to his room.

Keith was worried, but he would give Shiro some space before trying to get him to talk. That was how they did things; Shiro would wait until Keith went looking for him and Keith would give Shiro a day to sulk before getting him to talk. They knew each other that well; they knew what the other needed.

So Keith got himself ready for bed and spent a long time playing Animal Crossing before falling asleep. He didn’t even realise he had fallen asleep until he woke up with a loud noise in his room again. He checked if Black was on the bed with him and she wasn’t, so he sighed. His room was dark, which meant he had either hit the lights without realising or Black had knocked out the lamp on his bedside table. Keith shined his phone’s lantern on the side of his bed and sighed again facing the broken lamp. He looked around and didn’t find Black anywhere, which was odd.

The door was slightly open, so he figured she had probably tried to jump over Keith, knocked out the lamp and gotten out of the room afterwards. Keith took a deep breath, reminding himself she had probably done that by accident. He stood up and closed his door so Black wouldn’t enter his room again that night; if she did Keith would lose his cool, so, honestly, it was for the best.

He went back to his bed and turned on the lava lamp, which was placed on the middle shelf on his bookshelf, before actually getting back on bed. Keith switched off his 3DS and grabbed his phone; he had a bunch of unread texts from Pidge, so he started reading and replying to them as his consciousness started to slowly fade again.

The second time Keith woke up he didn’t open his eyes right away. Keith put his phone aside and reached out for his stuffed hippo, not finding it anywhere. He frowned and grabbed his phone, looking at the time – 3 am – in the process of turning the lantern on. Something caught his eyes on the end of his bed – a silhouette.

“Shiro?” He asked and looked away from his phone. His room was dimly lit because of the lava lamp. Keith looked at the frozen silhouette in front of him. It was skinny and was sitting down on the other end of his bed, touching his stuffed hippo and, apparently, facing Keith. That wasn’t Shiro. Keith quickly opened the drawer of his bedside table and grabbed his dagger.

“Wow, careful with that.” The silhouette talked. “You could hurt someone.”

“Shiro!” Keith shouted and jumped off his bed, still staring at the other person. He couldn’t see them properly, but he calculated his risk, getting into position to stab them if necessary. “Who are you? How did you get into my room?”

“Drop the knife before you hurt yourself, dude.” The figure sighed.

“Who the _fuck_ are you? Answer my questions!” Keith was growling and not holding back his voice, in hopes Shiro would listen.

“Stop shouting, you’ll wake up the neighbours.” The figure said, calmly; Keith was furious. Shiro opened the door and Keith turned to face him.

“What’s happening? I heard you shouting!” Shiro asked and frowned at Keith, looking at the hand holding the dagger. “The hell, Keith?”

“There’s a…” Keith turned to face the figure, but it wasn’t there anymore. He blinked a few times. “There was a…” Keith let his hand down slowly, not really understanding what had just happened. “I swear there was.”

“There was what?” Shiro yawned. “Did you have a nightmare or something?”

“No!” Keith said, certain. But then he took a deep breath and realised there was no other possible explanation. “I think so.” He opened the drawer and put the knife back in it. “Sorry to wake you up.”

“Nah, it’s fine.” Shiro yawned again, already leaving the room. ”Just be careful with that thing, okay? Night, Keith.” Shiro closed the door, but Black managed to enter the room before he did that.

Keith sat down on his bed, Black jumped on his lap and he started caressing her, trying to calm himself down. He had seen a person there, hadn’t he? Had he been asleep the whole time? Keith looked at the other end of the bed and tried to reach out to his stuffed hippo without getting Black out of his lap; he managed just barely. The hippo was a proof that something had happened, right?

But people didn’t just vanish into thin air like that. Keith sighed. Maybe it had been a lucid dream of some sort? Maybe he had been in that weird state in between asleep and awake and ended up seeing things? Maybe he had just had a nightmare and woke up still kind of shaken? He didn’t remember what he had dreamt of, which wasn’t odd, he rarely ever did. Keith lied down and hugged his stuffed hippo; Black went to her usual spot. It took him a while to fall asleep again, the lava lamp still on. Before he had fallen asleep completely he could’ve sworn he heard that same voice wish him a good night. His brain was tricking him from exhaustion; that was the only logical explanation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> he heh shit's starting to go down i guess heh heh anyway dafslkjksjs i hope u liked this chapter  
> once again, consider buying me a metaphorical coffee at ko-fi.com/playlandi
> 
> if u want to chat my social media are:  
> main instagram & main twitter: @playlandi  
> main tumblr and yt channel: @marsisnotcreative  
> les mis tumblr: @whensunscollide  
> side/cosplay ig: @enjolmars  
> side twitter: @thenotesaresour
> 
> also feel free to check my other fanfic, there's a few klance there, some enjoltaire (les mis), some courferre (les mis) and some jeanmarco (snk) :DDDD


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The squad goes over to Shiro and Keith's. Pidge and Shiro talk to Keith about feelings and Allura and Keith start bonding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey hey hey here we are with another chapter  
> as always hmu if you find any mistakes, pls!!! <3  
> this chapter contains some mild ghost activity :oooo , but a lot of pidge and keith being besties <3 i love my children lemme tell you that !!!
> 
> consider buying me a coffee and supporting my writing and my creative stuff: ko-fi.com/playlandi
> 
> THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS: the ghost doesn't actively appears again, but he's here. he's here. he'll be back soon, trust moi. there's a lot of pidge and keith being best buds and keith and shiro being best bros tho

Keith refused to comment on what had happened that night. Shiro didn’t question him, which was great, and he knew better than to tell his ghost-believing friends about it. He had convinced himself he had been asleep for most part and that was it. Nothing weird to it, nothing out of the ordinary.

Keith entered the kitchen and found Shiro sitting down, staring at his mug as if he expected his coffee to give him something more than his needed daily share of caffeine. Keith hugged Shiro tightly and Shiro sighed, relaxing into Keith’s embrace.

“So?” Keith squeezed him a little tighter before letting him go and starting to make himself some green tea. Black sat on top of Shiro’s legs and meowed at him, rubbing her head on his left hand; Shiro chuckled and started lightly caressing her fur. “What did you two fight about now?”

“He’s been out of town a lot and... I miss him, I guess.” Shiro sighed. “After everything that happened I thought I’d come home and finally marry Adam, have a family, have kids, but...” Shiro cleared his throat as his voice cracked. “I get it that he needed time. And then I needed time. But now he’s just always on the move, we see each other just once a month sometimes and I… miss him.” Shiro sighed again and Keith hummed. “So I told him that and... I knew he was stressed, but I pushed a bit and I guess that made him snap.” Keith hummed again, sitting down in front of Shiro once his tea was done. “We’re fine, though. He apologised and we’re fine. But sometimes I just feel like we’re never going back to how we were before...”

“You going away and then coming back different was really hard on Adam.” Keith took a sip of his tea. It had been hard on everyone; Shiro knew that. “And as hard as he tries being a good fiancé, it’s still hard. I kind of get him, in a way. But I processed my feelings; Adam didn’t.” Shiro hummed. “Remember when I used to wake up desperate, thinking you had gone away again? Think about that, but strongly repressed and coming from the romantic love of your life. That’s how Adam feels.”

“He told you that?” Shiro raised one eyebrow and Keith chuckled, shaking his head. “I’m scared he doesn’t want to be with me anymore... He’s never here and... I get that his job is really important. It’s crucial to have people who do what he does, but...”

“Have you told him that?” Keith asked, already knowing the answer. “Maybe buying the house was a bad move.” Keith said and went silent. Shiro looked up for a second and Keith wondered if he’d heard the same thumping on the second floor as he had, but Shiro said nothing, so Keith didn’t either. “Maybe that gave him the impression that you’re not ready to marry yet. That’s what I would’ve thought.”

“You really think so?” Shiro asked and sighed; Keith nodded and drank more of his tea.

“Talk to him properly, Shiro. You’re not a couple that just got together, you haven’t just met. You’ve been together for years now. You should be way past the miscommunication phase, you know?” Keith said and Shiro chuckled. Black meowed in response. “Listen to the cat. She knows her romance. I think.” Shiro laughed loudly and Keith smiled as Black started meowing louder.

“I’ll talk to Adam as soon as he’s back.” Shiro nodded and finished his coffee in a gulp. “Which will be in... Three weeks.” Shiro sighed. “He’s going around talking about gender in schools all over the state, so.” Keith nodded. “Thanks, Keith. And Black too.” Shiro chuckled, caressing the cat, who purred in response.

“Want me to take care of her?” Keith offered and Shiro shook his head, so Keith finished his tea and went upstairs to his room.

Keith decided to text Allura that day, tell her that Hunk had mentioned she was looking for someone to help around at the café and ask if they could maybe talk about that. He didn’t expect her to answer right away, so he just lied down on his bed after sending the text. His days had been consisting on resting, napping, reading and playing video games. Keith wasn’t in the mood for any of those things at the moment; maybe he could invite Pidge over and play with them. Hunk too; Hunk was cool.

Maybe they could invite the whole “squad” over and watch something together. A movie or a TV Show... They could watch a horror movie, that would be cool; especially since Shiro and Keith seemed to be the only sceptical ones out of the entire group and their house was believed to be haunted.

He texted Shiro with the idea first. Shiro lowkey scolded him for having been lazy enough to text him when they lived in the same house, but said it was a good idea as long as no one cared he would need to go to bed early because he had classes to teach on Monday morning. Keith proceeded to text the groupchat inviting them over and threw his phone somewhere on his bed again.

Keith had spent too long unemployed and unoccupied; if Allura told him they weren’t hiring at Altea he would have to go to town and figure something out for himself. He was sure he didn’t want to work on bookstores or second hand clothing stores, but he knew he couldn’t exactly be picky, so he would have to take whatever road the universe thought he should follow.

Money wasn’t exactly a problem to Keith, he had a mildly steady monthly income for family reasons and he split bills with Shiro, who had started saving ever since he was a teenager and had a stable job. It didn’t mean Keith had any plans on just being a parasite; he had chosen not to go to university, so he would work. Whatever door opened to him, he’d enter.

Long gone were the days in which Keith would refuse a job because of his anxiety or his temper. He had gone through therapy for years and his anxiety was somewhat controlled; so where his so called anger management issues. Neither Shiro nor his ex-therapist liked that term; his therapist used to refer to it as his “obsessive personality with hysterical traces and a temper” which, from Keith’s perspective wasn’t any different. Apparently that made sense do Shiro, but Shiro never named whatever it was, he’d just try and keep Keith grounded and that was it. Which Keith appreciated thoroughly.

His therapist was nice, actually. Keith used to like Dr. Cardinal was fun and tried her best to understand Keith; she had tried her best not to refer Keith to a psychiatrist, since he had pointed out he didn’t want to take any meds, and when she actually did Keith had managed to understand it was for the best. Dr. Cardinal was an unnaturally ginger-ish woman in her 50s with small and very light blue eyes who looked like she could be trusted; Keith had trusted her. He’d stopped therapy gradually and then for good when she had to move to a different city due to her youngest child needing help through a difficult time. Keith could understand that; he could respect that. But he kind of missed Dr. Cardinal sometimes.

Keith checked his phone for answers to his texts after a while in a near-sleep state. It had been settled: “the squad” would go over around 4pm, they would pick the movie, make popcorn and then order pizza. Shiro would be in bed before eleven and Pidge had invited themselves to spend the night. Keith was fine with that arrangement. It was three pm already, so he decided to get the mattress from the guest room and put it on the floor of his room – there was no way Pidge was going to sleep over and want to stay in the guest room. Both because Pidge was weirdly clingy sometimes and because they wouldn’t pass the opportunity to sleep in a “haunted” room. Keith _could_ put the Ouija board back in his room and that would definitely make Pidge want to sleep in the guest room, but he didn’t think taking the joke _that_ far would be funny; besides, he didn’t mind Pidge sleeping with him. He loved the gremlin and their weird ways.

After getting Pidge’s bed ready, he got himself clean socks, underwear and a mildly good looking t-shirt to match his regular black sweatpants. As much as Keith liked dressing up, he wasn’t going to pull a full on fashion icon outfit to stay at home. Sweatpants were great and comfy and as long as he wore a nice top with it no one would mind. Shiro would point out that no one would mind at all and prove his point by exemplifying with the fact that Matt wore crocs with socks to _go out_. Keith chuckled at himself for his train of thought. He went to the bathroom and set his clean clothes aside, stepping into the shower.

Keith had had the awful experience of having to stop mid shower because the water would fail before. But nothing would’ve prepared him for the water coming back 1) that quickly and strongly and 2) that cold. He was taking a nice, warm, pleasant shower; he wanted to finish his nice, warm, pleasant shower. But life – more specifically: the house’s plumbing – had different plans for him.

Keith let out an angry string of curses and could’ve sworn he’d hear someone, obviously Shiro, laugh at him. Stupid shower, stupid plumbing problems, stupid house. He finished his shower quickly since the water seemed to refuse getting warm again, as if water had any hint of willpower. Keith could see why people who stayed in that house for long enough would end up crazy enough to start believing in ghosts. He needed to get that plumbing fixed because if that started happening regularly he would freak out.

By the time Keith was out of the shower and the bathroom, fully clothed, the light on his room was turning on and off. He sighed.

“Pidge, you’re the least funny person I know.” Keith said entering the room and throwing his used underwear near the light switch.

“Yikes! Get your dirty shit off me.” Pidge shrieked. Keith laughed and caught his underwear on the air after Pidge threw it back at him. “I’ll have you know I’m actually hilarious, you just have no sense of humour, Samurai.”

“Whatever soothes your small gremlin heart.” Keith shrugged, still laughing. He threw the item on a small pile with a couple of t-shirts and other underwear. “You’re early.”

“Ten minutes.” Pidge shrugged and jumped on Keith’s bed and grabbed his 3DS, turning it on. “Don’t think you saw the groupchat, but Hunk’s gonna be thirty late and Allura too, so we get to pick the movie without them. I suggest horror movies.”

“You always do.” Keith sat down beside them, but Pidge nudged closer and sat on his lap. Pidge got comfortable and put his head a little to the side, so Keith could watch them as they played his Animal Crossing. “Any ideas?”

“Sinister.” Pidge shrugged. “I like that one.”

“You’ve watched it at least fifty times.” Keith chuckled and Pidge hummed. “You okay?” Pidge hummed again.”Pidgeotto.” Keith insisted one last time; he knew Pidge appreciated that and would be completely honest if they didn’t want to talk about it.

“I promise I’m okay.” Pidge said and Keith wrapped his arms around Pidge’s waist. “Hunk was over, we were discussing a project for uni and, you know how dad is… He made some jokes and now I think Hunk’s acting weird, I don’t know.” Keith hummed, encouraging Pidge to continue. “We were discussing coding, right? And I was defending one thing, he was defending another one, so dad barges in and jokes around, you know him, about how that’s how he met mom and Hunk and I just…” Pidge sighed. “I freaked out, like, saying that no, that was never going to happen and Hunk and I were just friends and he agreed and we were kind of shouting, but…” Pidge threw their head back and groaned. “I shouldn’t have overreacted and now I know he’s not interested and I hate this big time, Keefer.” Keith tightened his grip on Pidge, hugging them tighter. “It’s fine, I’m fine, just frustrated.”

“You don’t know if he doesn’t want anything, he could be just mimicking your attitude because you were defensive. Maybe he’s just as scared of telling you about his feelings as you are.” Keith said and Pidge hummed. “Thanks for skipping the complicated terms I wouldn’t understand, though.” Keith laughed and Pidge did so too. “I’m serious, Pidgey, you can’t know for sure unless you talk to him.”

“I’m not talking to him.” Pidge opened their eyes and faced the game again, continuing playing. “It’s going to pass. I’ll be fine. I _am_ fine, I was just frustrated, but I’m fine.” Keith hummed. “Let’s change topics, tell me about your haunted adventures in your haunted house. Did anything else interesting happen?”

“The wind happened a couple of times, which you would probably try to make into a ghost. Also the whole plumbing issue is getting in my nerves, so I need to get that fixed, but…” Keith hesitated for a second, but decided that was all Pidge should know. He didn’t want to feed into their actual belief, since ghosts didn’t exist. One thing was pranking them, but actually giving them things they would consider proof was… uncomfortable. “That’s about it.” Pidge huffed. “Not spooky enough for you?”

“Not nearly.” Pidge hummed in a different tone and Keith frowned; that meant they were thinking of something he wouldn’t necessarily like. “Hey! Ghost!” Pidge started talking louder; Keith rolled his eyes and let go of them. “My friend Keith doesn’t think you’re real, you know? I know you are, I believe in you. Keith here? Doesn’t. Maybe you should do some more spooky things. Get him scared and shit, you know?”

“Pidge, you’re literally talking to air. Could you not?” Keith said and rested his head on the wall behind him. Pidge chuckled.

“I guess the ghost just likes picking on you.” Pidge shrugged. “Maybe it has specific times of activity? I don’t know, I’d have to study the patterns… When exactly do you think the weird stuff happens the most?”

“Pidge.” Keith huffed. Pidge elbowed him lightly and chuckled. “There’s no ghost, it’s a relatively old house, the wind and some plumbing problems.”

“What about shit falling? And the footsteps from when we were facetiming? I bet the books episode was the ghost too!” Pidge argued and Keith rubbed his face with his hands in exasperation. “Oh! What if there’s more than one ghost?”

“Gravity, Pidge. Shit falls because gravity exists. The footsteps could be anything; it could’ve been Black or me walking on the attic and it echoing down here or your mind playing tricks on you. Black is a menace, so it was definitely her; so was the lamp.” Keith answered and Pidge let out a small strangled sound.

“What lamp?” Pidge asked and turned around on Keith’s lap so they could face him. Keith regretted saying those words. “You didn’t tell me about no lamp.”

“My lamp broke. Black got out of bed in the middle of the night and hit the lamp, so it fell and broke.” Keith shrugged and Pidge adjusted their glassed, a smug grin on their face as if they had discovered a new planet or something.

“Did you _see_ her doing that?” Pidge asked and Keith sighed, shaking his head. “Then I say ghost.”

“You can say whatever you want; doesn’t make it true.” Keith said and Pidge frowned at him; he chuckled. “But I think it’s nice that you’re not a blind follower of science; it shows your critical of your studies, it’s a good character trait, Pidgey.”

“Shut up. I bet in two months you’ll be crying yourself to sleep scared of the ghost.” Pidge said and Keith laughed loudly. “This is a challenge to you too, ghostie. Let’s unite forces, let’s make mullet head here a believer!” Pidge said a bit louder, turning their face to face every corner of the room. The doorbell rang and Pidge jumped from Keith’s lap. “Fucking hell.” Pidge took one of their hands to their chest and Keith snorted.

“And that was something called a doorbell. Probably Hunk, not a ghost.” Keith stood up, still laughing at Pidge. “Come one, let’s be sociable for a while.”

“I mean if it’s you requesting sociability who am I to say no, dude.” Pidge shrugged and followed Keith downstairs.

Hunk, Allura and Coran had gotten there all together. The group started chatting and arguing about which movie they were going to watch. Keith, Matt, Shiro and Pidge all agreed on watching a horror movie. Allura didn’t mind it, but Hunk and Coran were not fans of the idea; however, they were two against four. Matt wanted to force Hunk to watch all of the Paranormal Activity franchise, but as much as Keith and Pidge loved the idea, Shiro argued they only had time for one movie with him. They ended up settling in the one Pidge had suggested earlier to Keith.

While Pidge downloaded the movie illegally, Shiro went to the kitchen to make popcorn to everyone. Allura followed him to help with bringing the bowls back to the living room. They all fell into a group conversation about how the Final Destination franchise and Hunk admitted that it had him stop listening to the Kansa’s song Dust In The Wind because he was too terrified of it after watching the movies. Coran had never watched any of them and Pidge was excitingly talking about theories and analysis with Matt and Keith. Hunk absentmindedly commented on how he had only watched those movies because his ex-housemate really liked to those and then they would both sleep cuddling afterwards because Hunk was _legitimately_ scared after any horror movie.

Keith asked if Hunk wanted to sleep over too, but he politely declined and smiled. Pidge had stiffened up and Keith knew they would have to talk about it. He knew Pidge well enough to know they were probably overthinking Hunk declining the invitation and blaming themselves to some extent and Keith wouldn’t let them.

As Shiro and Allura got back with the popcorn, they started the movie. Keith was sitting on one end of the sofa, Shiro was on the floor in front of him, so Keith had his feet on the sofa – but would eventually put his legs over Shiro’s shoulder as always –, Hunk and Pidge were on the floor beside Shiro, Matt was on the seat he always liked sitting on and Coran and Allura were beside Keith on the sofa. Twenty minutes into the movie, Black was already sitting on Keith’s lap and Hunk and Pidge were cuddling. Coran had curled into a ball and was hiding his face on Allura’s shoulder, who didn’t seem to mind it at all.

The room was gradually getting colder and quieter as the movie rolled on. Popcorn being eaten was the predominant sound being heard and Keith wondered if the first scream would be let out by Hunk or Coran - Coran did it. Keith was feeling cold and some hill air blew on his neck, through his hair, making him shiver a little, which went unnoticed by everyone else since at that point Hunk, Coran and Matt were constantly trembling and making small whimpering noises. Keith held back a laugh when Matt shrieked at some point, since he had already watched that movie with them before. The wind hit him again and he shivered again, taking a hand to the back of his neck and wondering which window or door that was coming from, but letting the though go when Hunk and Coran both screamed loudly after another jumpscare and the Shiro snorted louder than he probably had meant to.

“Shut up!” Matt said, mortified. “This shit’s scary and this house is haunted.”

“The house isn’t haunted.” Keith sighed. He was lucky that Shiro was as sceptic as he was because all of his other friends seemed to be dumbasses. Pidge glared at him.

“Shut up and watch the movie.” They said and Keith chuckled, nodding.

“Yes, your majesty.” Keith said and Pidge narrowed their eyes. Keith wiggled his eyebrows at them and he knew Pidge had blushed before turning away to face the screen again and get even closer to Hunk.

At some point, Hunk had drawn Pidge onto his lap and hugged them tight as if Pidge was a teddy bear. Pidge hadn’t complaint; in fact, they had gotten comfortable on Hunk’s lap and put their arms on top of Hunks, squeezing them lightly whenever Hunk held them closer after a scare and shaking their head to nudge Hunk’s when he tried hiding his face behind Pidge’s hair. Keith was most definitely going to provoke Pidge for that later, but only when they were alone.

The rest of the night was mostly them joking around and laughing at stories about times one of them had scared the other. As they ate the pizza, Hunk and Pidge had distanced from each other a bit, but everyone was trying to find ways to make them interact. Keith was happy to realise that all of his friends and new acquaintances were as invested in Pidge’s happiness as he was. When they finished eating, Keith and Allura were designated to wash the dishes. Keith volunteered and Allura had smiled and offered help, which Keith didn’t exactly accept, but he told Allura it was okay to go with him.

“Sorry for not answering your text.” Allura said leaning on the counter, near the sink, as Keith began throwing the olive seeds and pizza crust remaining on the bin. Keith nodded, smiling at her. “Hunk mentioned the vacancy, then…”

“Yeah.” Keith nodded. “We were discussing how I chose not to go to college and how I need to go after a job, since I’m currently unemployed, so he told me you were looking for someone.” Allura hummed.

“Did he…” Her voice was a bit lower. “Say anything else?”

“He told me I should talk to you about it.” Keith answered and Allura hummed again. “It’s fine if you’re not interested, though. I could go downtown tomorrow and go after something else.”

“No, no. I’ve been avoiding this whole hiring thing for a while now, but I really do need help at Altea.” She chuckled, but she didn’t sound very happy. “You could come over tomorrow and see how we work and then we could talk about it, what do you say?”

“I’m game.” Keith looked at her and smiled softly. Allura nodded, smiling back at him, looking a little sad. “I just don’t want you to feel bad for telling me no or anything of the sort.”

“Oh, no.” Allura chuckled, seemingly a bit happier this time around. “That’s not the case. If I deem you unfit for the job I’ll tell you so, don’t worry, Keith. It’s just… Complicated.” Keith hummed. “I used to have someone who worked with me, but…” Allura frowned for a second. “I don’t anymore.” Allura looked at the dish rack. “Where do these go?”

“Plates go in there, forks, knifes and spoons in the first drawer over there and cups go up there.” Keith pointed the directions to her and she nodded.

“But I suppose I’ve been in need of help there and you’re a friend, so…” Allura continued talking as she put everything that was already dry into place and Keith hummed, rinsing the soap of the plates he had washed already. “Hunk’s been trying to get me to replace him, my friend who worked with me, for a while now but I’ve been reluctant about it, but he’s right. It’s way past the time for me to do that.” Allura clung onto Keith when a loud noise of glass splattering came from behind her.

“Everything okay?” Shiro’s voice came loud from the living room.

“Yeah.” Keith answered, looking at the glass that had fallen from the cupboard. “A glass fell, no big deal.” Keith heard someone gasp loudly and rolled his eyes.

“Sorry, I must have put it too close to the edge.” Allura said, still holding on to Keith. He looked at her, who was staring at the pieces of shattered glass and looking puzzled. Keith tapped at her back and she looked at him; he smiled at her and Allura blushed slightly, but smiled back, starting to let go of Keith, but hugging him again when they heard a door slam.

“Ghost!” They heard Pidge shrieking from the living room. Keith rolled his eyes again and Allura started laughing as she let go of Keith. They could hear their friends freak out in the living room as Shiro could barely contain his laughter.

“Oh my.” Allura said, no longer holding onto Keith. “Sorry I jumped on you twice.”

“It’s okay.” He chuckled. Allura was smiling wide. “And it’s okay the cup broke. Let me clean it up so you don’t get hurt.” He rinsed his hands and dried them on a piece of cloth. Allura opened her mouth to protest, but Keith cut her off. “It’s fine, Allura. Let me do this. You can finish rinsing the dishes while I do this if you’d like to, but I don’t want you to get hurt.” She nodded, smiling.

“I think you’ll do great.” She said, moving to the sink. “At Altea. I think you might be exactly the person I need to help me out.” Keith hummed, smiling, while he got a broom to swipe the pieces of glass.

Once they were done with the dishes, they went back to the living room and talked for just a while more before Shiro announced he had to hit the bed and everyone took it as their cue to leave. Allura said goodbye to Keith telling him to show up at Altea the next day after lunch, around one in the afternoon. Keith and Pidge went to Keith’s room, even though Pidge had protested against sleeping over after the “recent events”.

“He likes you.” Keith said when they were already both under their blankets and Pidge hummed. “He does.”

“Yeah, sure.” Pidge said and Keith hit them with his pillow. “Good thing you didn’t throw it on me, ‘cause you’d get it wrong, you aimless bag of scepticism.”

“You’re too creative with the insults and they make no sense at all, Pidgey.” Keith said and retrieved his pillow, putting it back under his head. “He likes you. He’s probably just scared that you don’t.”

“But I _do_!” Pidge said and groaned.

“Have you _told_ him?” Keith asked, proving his point. Pidge groaned again, loudly. “He’s not going to take his chance. I know I wouldn’t.”

“You don’t know that. You’ve never liked anyone!” Pidge said and Keith thought they had probably sat down, judging by the sounds he heard coming from their mattress. “I can’t fuck this up, Keith. Hunk is one of my best friends, I don’t want to risk losing him. And there’s the whole me being grey-ace deal… People aren’t exactly… Accepting of that…”

“I’m going to stop you right there and give you a chance to take back what you just said. Because if you’re honestly implying Hunk wouldn’t be accepting of that, or anything at all, you know him less than I do. And I don’t know Hunk.” Keith said and Pidge sighed. “You’re scared, I get it. Even if I’ve never liked anyone before I can understand being scared of losing someone, you know? But this is exactly the situation in which you _won’t_. There’s no way you can lose him, Pidgey. He likes you.”

“You really think so?” Pidge asked, tentatively. Keith chuckled.

“I’m certain of it.” He answered and heard Pidge fall back onto the mattress. They both stayed quiet for a while and Keith understood that Pidge no longer wanted to discuss that matter. “I might have gotten a job.”

“With Allura? I overheard her telling you to go there tomorrow.” Pidge answered. “That’s very cool, Keith. It’s even cooler that Allura trusts you that much. She’d never even give a shot to someone she didn’t trust. Especially to help her at Altea. It’s a place she holds dearly in her heart and the person who used to help her was very special too.” Keith hummed.

“Yeah, I figured… She didn’t say much, but she talked about him making this… Face.” He frowned. “I don’t know. I hope I don’t fuck up.”

“Nah, you won’t. Just don’t ask her about it. Lura doesn’t really like talking about it.” Pidge said and Keith hummed, nodding, even though Pidge couldn’t see that. “I’m tired.”

“Night, Pidgeon.” Keith said and Pidge chuckled.

“Night, Keefer. Love you, ma dude.” Pidge said and Keith heard them shuffle on the mattress. “Night, ghost. If you plan on killing someone, kill Keith first so I can run away. Thanks.” Keith chuckled and rolled his eyes.

“Love you too, pal.” Keith answered and closed his eyes. He was anxious about going to the café the next day, but he would do his best. Allura trusted him and he didn’t plan on breaking her trust.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, what did you think? comments and kudos are always appreciated. i hope someone's digging this dfslçajçl~kds if not...... well i'm still going to post it shrug emoji AHUAHUAHU that's me
> 
> next chapter will be up in ??? 7 days probably ???? because what is consistency right??
> 
> once again, consider buying me a coffee and supporting my writing and my creative stuff: ko-fi.com/playlandi  
> and if you wanna talk to me outside of ao3 my social media are:  
> main instagram & main twitter: @playlandi  
> main tumblr and yt channel: @marsisnotcreative  
> les mis tumblr: @whensunscollide  
> side/cosplay ig: @enjolmars  
> side twitter: @thenotesaresour
> 
> thanks <3


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith starts working at Altea and stays less at home, but one night, when Shiro's out, someone pays him a special visit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope someone's reading??? dakdjflkjds maybe no one is,,, idk man  
> doesn't mean i'll stop posting shrug emoji lol  
> if u find mistakes hmu and also gimme feedback??? if u want??? idk
> 
> consider buying me a coffee and supporting my writing and my creative stuff: ko-fi.com/playlandi
> 
> THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS: ghost activity. active activity hohohohoho eyes emoji eyes emoji ljsdakçlsd also more info about allura and coran c: and keith working with them c:

The experience at Altea wasn’t nearly as stressful as Keith thought it would be. Allura actually seemed to really like him around, so she said he could go back the next day and start for real at the job. Keith had a job at a place he didn’t hate; even though, he found out, Allura could be scary when she needed to, he had liked it. He got there at eight in the morning and got back home at four in the afternoon. His salary was decent and he was sure he would handle the customers just fine; he just needed to make sure he didn’t piss Allura off at any point in time.

Keith was spending less time at the house, so the plumbing problem wasn’t bothering him so much and the occasional cold room or door slamming weren’t either. He was focused on doing a good job, not breaking anything and trying to subtly match-make Pidge and Hunk – which was, actually, something almost their entire friend group was also trying to do. Pidge was certain Hunk didn’t like them back and Hunk suspected Pidge to have feelings for him, but was actually terrified that Pidge wouldn’t want to date someone who was demisexual. Keith was really bad at having patience for both of his friends who were pretending to misjudge each other just because they couldn’t admit their fear was absolutely unjustified.

The weirdest thing that had happened during the first week of work was a customer who seemed annoyed that Keith was serving her. Allura explained that some of the customers had started frequently going to the café because of her friend who used to work there. Apparently he was very good looking and used to jokingly flirt with everyone, so people would go once, meet him and keep going just to see him. Allura seemed, for the first time, partially happy talking about it, so Keith let her, but didn’t pry. He didn’t ask any questions, he knew better than that. When Allura changed topics, he let her and didn’t comment on it.

Pidge and Hunk visited them at the café at a point and stayed a while after the café had closed. That was the only day Keith stayed over his working hours and ended up helping Allura out until seven, which was the time the café closed during week days. He found out the café opened at seven and closed at seven and Allura worked the whole time, so he told her he didn’t mind helping out sometimes, if things got too much, and not having it reverted to his pay check. Allura, however, was the most ethical person he knew and told him that if she ever needed him to stay overtime she would pay him properly for the extra hours.

Keith was grateful for that, but he honestly didn’t mind doing it for free every once in a while. He didn’t have much of a social life anyway and Allura was his friend, more than just his boss. Coran was the only person Allura allowed helping her without getting paid for it, but that was because Coran was _very_ good at convincing Allura that he wasn’t working for her on those times, but paying off the favours he owned to Alfor – Allura’s deceased father.

That was another thing Keith learnt about Allura and Coran. Coran had been best friends with Allura’s father and was something like a godfather and uncle, in a way, to Allura. Allura had lost her father when she was seventeen and she chose to stay with Coran since then; he could understand her suffering at the time because he had lost his best friend the same day Allura lost her father. They were already close before Alfor’s death, but after that - and after Allura turned eighteen and started working on Altea too - they became best friends.

While Allura wasn’t eighteen yet and hadn’t inherited Altea yet, Coran ran the place for her and she helped around. After she turned eighteen, Coran went back to working as a chief mechanic at a very fancy automobile repair store that used to belong to his father. At that point in time, Coran acted less as a mechanic than he used to in his early years. Working at Altea, for Keith, meant learning more about Allura and Coran, thus bonding more with them, which was also a great thing.

Two weeks went by and on his second Saturday night after work – the day Adam had gone back from his trip – Keith was exhausted. It was a good tiredness; he felt fulfilled and not stressed at all. Keith couldn’t remember if he’d ever actually liked a job as much as he liked working at Altea. As soon as he got home from work he decided to take a shower, put on his pyjamas and take a nap before doing anything else; Shiro wasn’t there to bug him and force him to eat before going to bed, so he could be a disaster adult for once. He woke up at around eleven pm, ate something quick, drank chamomile tea and went back to bed to resume his wonderful sleep.

Altea didn’t open on Sundays because Allura could afford doing that, so Keith had Sundays off. He didn’t _have to_ go to sleep so early, but he knew Pidge was working on a paper they had to write for university, so Keith wouldn’t bother them inviting them over or facetiming. He wasn’t in the mood for reading, playing things or watching things, so sleeping was his best option. As much as he already loved the rest of his new friends, he wasn’t close enough with them to just invite them to go over without anxiety eating him alive.

It took him some time to manage to go back to sleep, so he answered Pidge’s and Shiro’s texts in the meantime. Pidge was freaking out about how Hunk had invited them over for chatting the next day and Keith only answered with winking emojis. Shiro was asking him all sort of dad-like questions: whether he had eaten already, if he was taking good care of Black. Keith knew that meant he hadn’t had the talk with Adam yet and was ridiculously anxious about it.

Shiro’s texts had stopped coming an hour before Keith checked his phone, so he figured Shiro was either having sex or actually talking to Adam. He hoped it was the latter; he knew how much Shiro and Adam needed to talk. He put his phone aside, cuddled his stuffed hippo, realised Black had followed him into the room and gave her some love before falling asleep again.

Keith woke up with Black jumping from the bed and hitting him in the process, meowing loudly. He opened his eyes, already frowning.

“Black, shut it.” Keith scolded the cat. Black hissed. “Shut it or out!” He said, angrily. She jumped back onto the bed, on top of Keith, and meowed near his ear. Keith sat down quickly and grabbed Black in his arms before standing up and walking towards the door. The cat was hissing and moving in his arms, trying to escape. “I said shut it or out. You refused to stop, you’re out. Ouch! Stop scratching me!” Keith let go of her and turned his lava lamp on, which was near him.

“Hello again.” The voice came from a silhouette, apparently sitting on the end of Keith’s bed. Keith blinked a few times, trying to wake up, but as soon as he realised he wasn’t asleep he ran to his bedside table. “That’s not very smart, you know? Because I know you keep your knife there. I could’ve gotten it and stabbed you or hidden it, etcetera.”

“Who are you?” Keith didn’t take his eyes off the figure; Black was on the floor, hissing at them. “How did you get into my house two times? How did you escape last time?” Keith grabbed his knife from the drawer. “Answer me!”

“Stop shouting, did you learn nothing from the last time when your buff very hot brother came into the room? Screaming means waking people up. Jesus…” The figure sighed. Keith threw his knife at him; Keith’s aim wasn’t the best, but he could hit someone who was sitting still on his bed. His knife went right through the silhouette; Keith’s eyes widened. That was… He thought he’d hit them, but… He’d missed? How? “What the _fuck_? Are you _insane_? You could’ve hurt someone, you crazy asshole!”

“I _meant_ to.” Keith snarled back and got himself ready to fight if he had to. “Who are you and what do you want? How did you get into my house?”

“ _Your_ house? I was here first, you know?” The silhouette moved a bit, apparently turning to face Black. “Could you please stop with the hissing and meowing? It’s been weeks, kitty! You should be used to me by now.” They huffed. “Tell her to stop.” They faced Keith back. Did they say _weeks_? Keith didn’t move. His eyes were starting to get used to the mild light and he managed to see some things about the other person. They had apparently straight short hair, were very slim and seemed to be around Keith’s sitting height. “Hello? Earth to Keith?”

“How do you know my name?” Keith nearly barked at them.

“I’ve… Heard it? Countless times.” They answered as if they were saying the most obvious thing in the universe. “Do you have trouble understanding what people say? Some sort of cognitive problem or something? It’s fine if you do, I’m not making fun of you or anything, I’d just like to know so I can make myself clearer or whatever.” Keith grabbed his phone from the bed. “Don’t.” Their voice was a bit louder and Keith felt very cold, as if the entire room had frozen and he had frozen with it. “Ah, shit, sorry…” The figure took their hand to their hair and scratched the back of their head. “Just… Don’t do that.”

“The intruder in my house wants me not to call the police. That makes sense.” Keith said, but didn’t dial the number, for some reason.

“They’re not coming fast enough. And when they do I’ll be gone, just like I was when Shiro entered the room and you’ll be seen as crazy, so if you actually have an intruder at some point they won’t take you seriously and we don’t want that.” They shrugged. “Plus, don’t you think if I meant you any harm I would’ve hurt you in your sleep? Or taken something away, I don’t know…”

“I _have_ an intruder. You’re the intruder.” Keith growled back at them and they sighed. “You know about my dream? How?”

“Dream?” They asked, seemingly confused. “Oh.” The figure laughed. “Wasn’t a dream, dude. I was here and then I wasn’t. But it was real. As real as this is being right now.”

“That…” Keith stopped and frowned even harder. “Who are you?”

“Name’s Lance.” The figure waved at Keith, who narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “Are you fucking serious? I just wanna chat, man, that’s it. Drop the phone, stop trying to stab me, don’t be rude.”

“You’re in my house, you’re calling me rude and you’re trying to tell me what to do?” Keith asked, in disbelief. How was that person so calm about everything? Keith did just throw a knife at them, right? If someone threw a knife at Keith he would worry, but the intruder – Lance –, wasn’t worried at all. He was absolutely unfazed by it.

“Told you already; I was here first. So, technically, _you’re_ the intruder.” Lance shrugged and threw himself on Keith’s bed, lying down. “Most people stop being so stubborn after their first encounter, but here you are: one encounter, countless pranks and one ongoing conversation and you’re still asking dumb questions.” Keith took a few steps back and Lance sighed. “Turn the lights on. Promise I’m not vanishing again.”

Keith hesitated. There was a stranger in his room, saying strange things, making all sorts of requests and demands. He walked up to the light switch, not taking his eyes off of his bed and turned them on. As soon as he hit the lights his eyes hurt a little, so he closed them. Keith opened his eyes and there was no one on his bed. He ran towards it and his eyes widened. He looked to the spot on his wardrobe where he had thrown his knife and it was still there. Ok, not a dream, but if it wasn’t a dream… Was he going crazy?

“Boo.” A voice, deeper than before, came from behind him, very close to his right ear. Keith screamed and jumped onto his bed, proceeding to try and punch the spot where the voice came from. Lance burst into laughter. “Oh, man! You should’ve seen your _face_ , this is for sure your best reaction so far!”

“What the _fuck_?!” Keith shouted at the person standing in front of him. They were curved, hands around their stomach, laughing their brains out. Keith noticed they had dark skin, brown hair and incredible white teeth. Their eyes shined brightly than any other Keith had ever seen as they continued laughing and, seemingly, tried to catch their breath. “Who the _fuck_ are you?” The person in front of him stopped laughing, settled into a grin and looked at Keith with their _very_ blue eyes, staring into Keith’s with mind blowing intensity.

“I’m Lance. I’m the ghost that haunts this house.” They answered, grinning wickedly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here he is. here HE IS. here HE FREAKING IS AAAAAAAAAAAAAA lksda~lfkfldsk told yall lancey lance would come up some time soon. i like myself a slow build and slow burn and lsdkçlfks i like developing the other relationships and not focusing solely on the main pairing??? idk man das just lil old me lçksapdkds  
> anywaysss
> 
> once again, consider buying me a coffee and supporting my writing and my creative stuff: ko-fi.com/playlandi  
> and if you wanna talk to me outside of ao3 my social media are:  
> main instagram & main twitter: @playlandi  
> main tumblr and yt channel: @marsisnotcreative  
> les mis tumblr: @whensunscollide  
> side/cosplay ig: @enjolmars  
> side twitter: @thenotesaresour
> 
> thanks <3


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith talk for the first time. Keith's world starts turning upside down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, i haven't been writing much. i have up to chapter 11 written, but classes are about to start and depression is a thing. that means i'll start updating less frequently, just so no one thinks i've given up on the fic??? i haven't. i won't. don't worry.  
> updates will just start being less frequent so i manage to catch up on the writing, that's all lol
> 
> consider buying me a coffee and supporting my writing and my creative stuff: ko-fi.com/playlandi
> 
> THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS: lancey lance and keithy-boi talk for the first time ever. also more "background" ghost activity and mentions of adashi c:

Keith blinked a few times, trying to make sense of what the intruder had just told him. They had crossed their arms and were standing in front of Keith with that stupid grin on their face and those stupid freakishly deep and intense blue eyes. Keith couldn’t process what they had just said. Maybe it was a prank. Maybe it was something the squad had put that person to; that made sense. But Shiro wouldn’t have joined them. Coran wouldn’t either, Keith was sure of that. And Shiro would have to be involved because of the episode that Shiro had convinced Keith to have been a dream.

That person couldn’t be a ghost. For the sole reason that: ghosts didn’t exist.

No other reason.

They couldn’t be something that didn’t exist. It was the same thing as saying they were Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny or Tooth Fairy.

They couldn’t be.

Unless they were one of those as an acting job, then, sure thing, they could be whatever. But for that to be an acting job, it would mean someone hired them. Once again, Shiro would have to be involved because otherwise how would they have entered the house in Shiro’s absence? And this wasn’t Shiro. Shiro’s pranks weren’t that big. Keith suspected not even Pidge and Matt would take things as far as hiring something to pretend to be a ghost.

Those deep blue eyes were staring at him and Keith felt a shiver coming down his spine. Whatever, whoever that person in front of him was: they had the most intense eyes Keith had ever seen. And they knew Keith’s name, Shiro’s name, how they were related. They mentioned it had been weeks. But ghosts weren’t real. And they couldn’t be someone hired by Pidge because they wouldn’t have been able to enter the house. Keith heard himself swallow loudly; the person’s smile grew wider.

“Oh my, oh my. Are you _scared_?” They asked and Keith clenched his jaw. “That’s priceless!” They started laughing loudly again. “It’s okay, I mean you no harm, I’m not evil. I promise.”

“Ghosts aren’t-“ Keith started, but Lance cut him off.

“Real, yeah, I’ve heard you say that a thousand times already. They are. I am.” Lance took a step closer to Keith.

“Stay back!” Keith said and closed his hands into fists.

“Wow, calm down. I’m not hurting you.” Lance turned around slowly, raising their t-shirt slightly. “See? No weapons, no guns, no nothing. I’m unarmed.” They took another step in Keith’s direction; Keith didn’t argue. Lance kneeled on the bed near Keith and put his hand centimetres near Keith’s. “Try it.” Keith frowned, looking at their face and then their hand. “You need proof, right? No better proof than this.” Keith touched Lance’s hand and his hand went right through it.

“What the…” Keith said and his eyes widened. “You’re a ghost.”

“I’m a ghost.” Lance chuckled. “Scared?” Keith swallowed loudly again. “I’m not going to hurt you.” Lance said, smiling softly. Keith nodded. Something in their voice made Keith believe them.

“So the doors slamming…” Keith said and Lance nodded. “And all the footsteps too.” Lance nodded again. “What else?” Lance hummed, taking their hand to their own chin and brushing their lips with his thumb.

“Well, on the first day I messed with the electricity, moved some stuff to other spots on the attic, slammed the door and messed with your books…” Lance hummed again and Keith frowned. “I felt bad when you thought it was Black, so I tried apologising to her, but she doesn’t seem to like me a lot… So I guess I’m sorry about the scratch.” They shrugged. “The doll on your bed was also me; that was a hard one, it took a lot of energy, but was worth it. I dropped your lamp accidentally too, so I’m sorry about that. And the Ouija board. All things related to it were me.”

“So you’re responsible for the attic lights.” Keith said and Lance chuckled. “And the plumbing?”

“Yup. Also me.” Lance said and shrugged. “See? No harm done, just some fun pranks, that’s all. Movie night was great, but I thought my breath on your mullet would freak you out and it didn’t, so… That’s a point for you. But you shouting in the shower because of the cold water was a point for me.”

“Was it a competition?” Keith said and Lance nodded enthusiastically. “I wasn’t even aware.”

“That’s because you’re stubborn.” Lance pointed out and Keith rolled his eyes. “I knew you wouldn’t be freaked if I didn’t prove you wrong first, so I had to change tactics and here we are. Chatting on your bed.”

“You’re a ghost.” Keith said, under his breath and Lance chucked again. “What are your pronouns? Do ghosts have pronouns? We’ve been referring to you as an ‘it’…”

“I _know_.” Lance rolled their eyes. “I do have pronouns. Every ghost does. I go by he, him, his pronouns. Thanks for asking.” Keith nodded

“How come you’re sitting on my bed when my hand went right through yours?” Keith asked and Lance pinched the bridge of his nose.

“I guess this is going to be a boring questionnaire…” He sighed. “I can materialise if I want to. I’m still not that good at it, so I don’t bother with it too much. Overall I just float around surfaces and it seems like I’m sitting down because I’ve mastered the floating, so I don’t spend too much energy on it anymore. Everything I do takes up energy, just like the things you do. Some things require more or less energy and some things get easier as I learn how to do them properly, so it’s all about practicing. I had a lot of time to practice when the house was empty, but since you and Shiro moved in I’ve had less time because I can’t go around freely messing up, right?” Lance shrugged and Keith nodded, very interested in what Lance was saying. “I can move things around and mess up with electricity and water, because they’re both matter in a way. I mean… Electricity isn’t matter exactly, actually, but… Anyway, I can interfere with waves and all that, so… Radio, TV, Wi Fi, all that jazz is easy peasy for me too. Door slamming is easy, I can change the room’s temperature too…” He hummed. “Footsteps are hard, I hate doing those. Sometimes I lose control of my voice too, so you can hear it when I don’t want you to.”

“Why?” Keith frowned and Lance shrugged. “If you can materialise then the knife could’ve hit you?” Lance nodded and Keith hesitated for a second.

“You want to experiment, don’t you? You have that look on your face you make when you’re having an idea.” Lance sighed. “It’s going to hurt, but I’m not going to bleed because I don’t have a corporeal body. I don’t know the actual process, how it works and all of that, I just know I can do it.” He reached out for Keith’s hand and held it into his. “See?”

“That’s…” Keith said, eyes wide looking at their hands. “You’re a ghost.” Lance chuckled.

“I’m a ghost.” He nodded. Keith let a yawn escape him, eyes still wide. “You’re tired, you should go back to sleep, since my job here is done.” Keith frowned and squeezed Lance’s hand, looking at his face. “I’m not going anywhere, I’ll keep messing with you, don’t worry.” Keith nodded and Lance stood up, letting go of Keith’s hand. “Night, Keith.”

“See you tomorrow?” Keith asked and Lance chuckled.

“If I feel like it.” He shrugged and Keith nodded. “You’ll feel me tomorrow, though.” Keith nodded again and blinked. When he opened his eyes, Lance was no longer in his room and the lights were off. He grabbed his phone, pointed to his wardrobe and took a photo, with the flash on, of his knife stuck there.

It took him a while to manage to fall asleep, a little confused about everything that had happened. Keith recapped all of the occurrences that had probably been ghosts since he moved into the house, but he never even realised it.

When Keith woke up the next morning he was convinced it all had been a dream until he saw the knife on the wardrobe. That was proof that the previous night had really happened. Keith couldn’t talk to Shiro about; he wouldn’t believe or understand Keith. If Keith told Pidge or Hunk about it they’d probably never step into the house again; plus Keith would never see the end of it and he definitely did not want that. Coran wouldn’t give him shit, but would never go over again either. And Allura... Keith didn’t know how she would react, but he didn’t want to risk it.

Black was still asleep by his side. Keith sat down on the bed, scratching his own head for a while and thinking about how to act. He yawned and rubbed his eyes, trying to be silent and not disturb Black, but she woke up and meowed at him, jumping on his lap. Keith caressed the car and she purred, making him smile.

“Morning.” He said and she meowed, rubbing her head on his hand. “So, you knew, huh?” Keith asked and Black purred. He felt less crazy talking to a cat now that his world had basically turned upside down. After a while Keith got out of bed and started his day.

Shiro hadn’t texted him, which meant he was probably still asleep; Keith decided to take that as a good sign. He made himself some green tea, toast and oatmeal and sat down on the kitchen table, playing Candy Crush on his phone. Black was sitting on a chair near Keith and watching him as he was focused on his phone. When his lives were over, he closed the game and stared, frowning, at the Safari icon on his phone.

Keith opened the browser and started typing on the search bar. He stopped himself for a second; was it weird? Was he being weird? Maybe, but if he couldn’t talk to anyone about what had happened, he would go for his new best friend: Google. He typed “is there a ghost in my house?” and found a bunch of articles and tests to determine whether his house was haunted or not. It was; he didn’t need that.

He tried “I saw a ghost. What now?”, but none of the results seemed interesting. Keith sighed; he didn’t even know what exactly he was looking for. Maybe a chat room would help; he could find one and make an untraceable username and talk to someone about what had happened to him and maybe, just maybe, someone could help him make sense of it.

He felt weird. He didn’t want Lance to be real because that would be a punch to his pride, but if Lance wasn’t real that meant Keith was probably going crazy. The knife on his wardrobe door proved that much. He reminded himself to take that knife from the door before Shiro saw it; otherwise he would have to explain things and he honestly didn’t have a good enough explanation. The apparent truth didn’t seem like an option.

No matter what he said, Shiro would worry. Ghost? Shiro would most likely consider sending him to a mental institution. If he said he was practicing his aim Shiro would most likely try to take his knife away and Keith didn’t want that. If he said he had had another dream and thrown the knife, Shiro would firstly try to analyse Keith and then want to convince him to go back to therapy; worried that Keith’s anger issues were coming back or something. They weren’t. Keith didn’t need therapy for _that_. Unless he was really going insane, which he didn’t think was the case. He hoped that wasn’t the case.

As soon as he was done with breakfast, Keith went back to his room and retrieved the knife, running his fingers through the hole the knife had left on the wardrobe door. Keith put the object back in the drawer and sat on his bed, staring at his phone’s screen, which was still open on the browser. He felt stupid.

“Lance?” Keith tried calling him and waited for a while. “Lance, are you there?” He tried again, but got nothing back. Black entered the room and jumped on the bed, on Keith’s lap. “Is he here?” Black rubbed his head against Keith’s hand and Keith sighed. His phone vibrated and he had to hold himself not to jump and launch Black from his lap.

**Shiro: I’m almost home. Just in case.**   
**Keith: What? You think I’m naked?**   
**Shiro: You’re an adult, Keith.**   
**Keith: I’m single, Shiro.**   
**Shiro: Exactly.**   
**Keith: Please stop?**   
**Shiro: I’m just giving you a heads up.**   
**Keith: Yeah. Thanks. No problems. No nakedness on this front.**   
**Shiro: What about the back? lol**   
**Keith: Shiro.**

Keith locked his phone screen, rolling his eyes, grabbed his 3DS, started playing Animal Crossing as Black made herself comfortable on his lap and waited for Shiro to be back. He would try to avoid thinking about what had happened the night before as best as he could. Shiro got to the house a few minutes later, but it took him a while to go upstairs. Keith waited, playing.

“Hey.” Shiro greeted from the door. Keith paused the game and nodded at him, so he entered the room and sat beside Keith on the bed. “We talked.” Shiro sighed.

“Bad news?” Keith asked, a little scared of the answer. Shiro shook his head.

“Not exactly. It was just... Intense.” Shiro sighed again. “Adam is starting therapy next week, he said he needs to elaborate everything properly.” Shiro pointed to his arm and Keith nodded. “He said that he’s terrified of losing me, but he feels that it’s not fair on me because he knows I’m staying now. I told him I understood his work was important, but I was scared of losing him too. Because he was distant and I missed him. He... Understood. I suppose… There isn’t much he can do work wise, but he agreed on us spending more time together when he’s in town. He even said he wants to meet everyone, since he only knows you and Matt.”

“That’s very good.” Keith said and Shiro nodded.

“It is. I just feel... We have a lot packed up, that’s all. He’s still keeping a lot to himself, I can sense that, which is a right of his. He doesn’t want to hurt me and I don’t want to hurt him, but being too careful might be worse? I don’t know.” Shiro admitted. “I was supposed to know and I don’t.”

“You’re not _supposed_ to anything. You’re young and you’ve always been bad at feelings. Adam knows that and he understands. He’s not all too great at feelings either. Just take things slow now, don’t bottle more things up and talk things through properly.” Keith advised.

“When did you become so wise?” Shiro playfully punched Keith’s shoulder and chuckled. Keith shrugged and chuckled too. “Thank you, Keith.” Keith nodded, smiling. Black jumped to Shiro’s lap and Shiro started caressing her fur. “I’m glad my cat still loves me a little bit.” Black meowed and Shiro chuckled. “How’s work doing?”

“It’s fine. I like working at Altea. Allura is great and she’s very understanding of most things. She doesn’t think the customer is always right, which is great when some people start being rude to me for no apparent reason.” Keith shrugged. “But it’s nice. I’m getting some money, she’s getting some help. It works.” Shiro hummed. “And I’m getting to know her better, which is also nice. She’s an incredible person.” There was a loud noise coming from somewhere in the house; most likely Keith’s bathroom. Keith swallowed loudly, but Shiro didn’t seem to mind the sound. “Did you not hear that?”

“Something probably fell. I’ve told you to stop putting your stuff too close to the edges a thousand times already. Not my problem if they break.” Shiro shrugged and kept playing with Black, but she had gone quiet, looking at Keith. Had it been gravity making something fall? Or had it been Lance? Keith clenched his jaw and Black hissed. “What’s up, baby girl?” Shiro asked her, but she didn’t seem to pay attention to him, jumping from his lap to Keith’s again and meowing loudly. Shiro nodded, chuckling. “She really does love you.”

“I guess she does.” Keith said, looking at the cat, a bit lost in thought. She would most likely let him know somehow if Lance was in the room with them, right? “What was I saying?”

“Allura.” Shiro reminded him and he nodded.

“Yeah. Allura is amazing. The best boss I’ve ever had.” Keith stated.

“Better than Kolivan?” Shiro chuckled and Keith rolled his eyes.

“Kolivan was fine. He helped me grow with his borderline military discipline, but... Allura is soft enough, but also just the right amount of scary. Kolivan has only shown a hint of human feelings after I left the job.” Keith admitted. “Which is cool. It’s nice that we’re kind of friends now, but we fought a lot when we worked together and that was tiring. And I’m not even going to talk about my last boss…”

“Iverson and I are the same.” Shiro said and Keith hummed. “Ever since I left the military we built up some sort of relationship. He’s even texted me saying he’ll be in town next week and inviting Matt and I for coffee. I might have to convince Matt first, but we’re going.” Keith chuckled. Poor Matt, he was terrified of Iverson. Keith hadn’t been Iverson’s biggest fan either after Shiro had gone to his last mission, but he’d grown past that. “Do you have plans for later? We could go eat out for lunch, what do you say?”

“Sure.” Keith agreed and Shiro smiled wide, standing up.

“We’ll leave at one.” Shiro said and Keith nodded. He left the room and Keith resumed his game, but couldn’t focus. His mind kept trying to refocus to the noise that seemed to have come from his bathroom. He placed Black on his bed and went to check it out.

His shampoo and conditioner were both on the floor, gladly not broken or cracked. Keith sighed.

“Please don’t go around breaking my stuff?” He said, tentatively, but got no answer back. Keith put them back; making sure nothing was placed on any edge, so he could be sure that if something fell it was Lance.

He went back to his room and opened the browser on his notebook. Keith typed in all sorts of searches about ghosts; he was determined to know what to do, how to act, what to expect of Lance. He set an alarm to go shower before going out with Shiro and opened a bunch of tabs with forums and articles about spirits and supernatural things. By the time his alarm rang, he was deeply focused on an article talking about the potential dangers of using an Ouija board to contact spirits.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so yes lance is a gHOST huh who would've imagine lol  
> anyway. any feedback, any mistakes, hmu pls !!! english aint my native language yall
> 
> once again, consider buying me a coffee and supporting my writing and my creative stuff: ko-fi.com/playlandi  
> and if you wanna talk to me outside of ao3 my social media are:  
> main instagram & main twitter: @playlandi  
> main tumblr and yt channel: @marsisnotcreative  
> les mis tumblr: @whensunscollide  
> side/cosplay ig: @enjolmars  
> side twitter: @thenotesaresour
> 
> thanks <3


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is buds with Pidge and Hunk. Lance and Keith have some issues?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahaha *comes back as if they hadn't left for MONTHS without notice lol* hi hello i'm sorry i have no excuses only depression and a life offline that wants me dead probably lol
> 
> like i said there's NO WAY i'm giving up on this fic, okay? i have up until ch 12 ready now lçdfapofdksdk i just need to,,,, post them and,,, finish the rest ll~kalçdfks <3 don't kill me please yall
> 
> consider buying me a coffee and supporting my writing and my creative stuff: ko-fi.com/playlandi
> 
> THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS: lance activity, pidge-keith-hunk being BUDS <3,

Something weird happened every day. Objects falling, doors slamming, footsteps being heard, room temperatures changing, the goddamn water pressure changing when Keith was showering and a chuckle being heard when he cursed - if Shiro was home he would curse under his breath, but if not Keith would call Lance names very loudly. But Keith didn’t see Lance again for a few days. They did contact each other though. Keith had been showering after a particularly exhausting day when Lance pulled his water stunt.

“You’re _not_ funny, Lance.” Keith said, growling when cold water hit his skin. “I’m not in the mood.” He said, clenching his jaw. The water temperature went back to normal. “Thanks.” Keith’s voice was low and hoarse, almost another growl. “Are you here while I shower, Lance?” Keith narrowed his eyes.

He covered his penis with his hand as he watched a “ _No?_ ” being written in the fog on glass. Keith’s eyes widened.

“Go away, you creep.” Keith turned to the wall, putting his hand on his butt cheeks instead, in a way Lance couldn’t see his junk or his butt, but he could still see the glass and watch Lance replying.

“ _Not like I haven’t seen it before, pretty boy ;)_ ” Lance wrote back and Keith frowned. “ _Chill. I don’t stare._ ”

“That’s not the point! You shouldn’t even _be_ here… That’s invasion of privacy.” Keith barked. Lance drew a shrugging emoji back at him. “Fuck off.”

“ _Chill. It’s not like I’m here to watch. I’m just here._ ” Lance wrote on the glass and Keith swallowed loudly, but used one of his hands to push his wet hair back, away from his eyes. “ _Besides, you never seemed to mind it before._ ”

“I didn’t know you were here.” Keith protested and clenched his jaw again. He took a deep breath. “Boundaries, Lance.”

“ _Kay. Sorry._ ” Lance wrote back and added a sad face to the end. Keith sighed and waited a while.

“I’m trusting that you left.” Keith said with his voice a bit lower than before. No response. He nodded and turned around to finish his shower.

After that Lance hadn’t contacted Keith again or answered when Keith called – or pranked him in the shower, which Keith was grateful for. But Keith wanted to see Lance again, he wanted to ask Lance about ghost stuff; he didn’t know how much from the internet was true and how much wasn’t and he wanted to understand things. Maybe Lance didn’t want to be questioned, but if he told Keith that, Keith would absolutely drop it and let it be. But the entire week went by without any other direct contact.

On Friday night Keith went over to Pidge’s, so Pidge could actually tell him about lunch with Hunk. They’d asked Keith to talk about it face to face, so Keith went over right after work and would eat with the Holt family and maybe even sleep over. Keith liked Samuel and Coleen Holt, Pidge and Matt’s parents. They were fun to be around and very welcoming too; and they liked Keith back, which made him feel home when he was with them. Coleen had taken Keith in more than once after he had gotten into fights on the street and didn’t want to face Shiro right away, helping him cool down, baking him cookies or brownies and letting him help out.

After dinner, Pidge and Keith excused themselves, going to Pidge’s room and turning on their PlayStation to play Guitar Hero while they talked. It took Pidge two songs to start pouring their heart out.

“I really like him?” They said, questioning. “He was so fucking sweet, Keith! He made us lunch and we talked about robotics and programming and we watched vine compilations and ate a bunch of crap.” Pidge groaned. “And we talked until late at night, cuddling on the sofa and... Ugh!” Pidge paused the game and slammed their forehead on Keith’s arm. “I really wanted to kiss him, but he mentioned he’s demisexual and I...” Pidge cried out. “I don’t like this. I don’t like feelings.” Keith put his controller on the ground and pulled Pidge closer, hugging them. “I don’t like feelings. They’re hard.”

“They suck.” Keith agreed. “But you’ll be fine. As long as you talk things through with Hunk.”

“I’m not telling him. Are you crazy? Hunk is one of my best buds I’m not risking ruining what we have just because I couldn’t stop myself from developing feelings for him.” Pidge got closer to Keith, letting him comfort them.

“You’re overly complicating something simple. Feelings don’t have to be angsty and dramatic and you and Hunk are the perfect match.” Keith said and Pidge groaned. “Let your gremlin heart have what it wants.” Pidge nodded rubbing his face against Keith’s arm before grabbing their phone from their pocket and starting to type. “I didn’t mean _right now_ , Pidgey.” Keith chuckled as Pidge shushed him.

“Hunk says he’s free and that we should go over.” Pidge looked up to Keith. “So we’re going.” Keith laughed loudly, but nodded. Pidge got up and started packing his bag. “Just in case I need to stay over at yours. If it’s okay...”

“As long as you’re not scared to stay over.” Keith shrugged and Pidge rolled his eyes.

“Hunk said your ghost isn’t evil.” Pidge adjusted their glasses.

“He’s just a prankster. I know.” Keith sighed. “And an annoying one even.”

“What?” Pidge asked and Keith looked up at them quickly, realising what he had said. “Did something happen?”

“No. I meant I knew what Hunk said.” Keith shrugged. “It was a figure of speech.” Pidge hummed, frowning; clearly not quite believing him. “Are you done?” Keith started switching off the game and getting up from the floor so they could leave and not talk about that anymore.

He couldn’t tell Pidge. He would never see the end of it. He would do it at some point, of course. Pidge was his best friend after all, so he would tell them. Just not now.

They decided to walk up to Hunk’s. Their houses weren’t too far from each other and Pidge didn’t want to ask Matt for a ride and get him annoying them about their relationship with Hunk even if for a very short while. Keith understood that; Keith could respect that. So they walked the few blocks silently; the air was chill and Keith sighed, appreciating the weather. It was perfect weather to be asleep, under the covers.

Hunk greeted both of them with a huge smile and tight hugs. Pidge couldn’t refrain from slipping into their genuine comfortable smile; Keith could feel himself relaxing into Hunk’s embrace. That was one of the effects of having Hunk as a friend: he was a great person and he was amazing at making people feel comfortable and happy naturally; he didn’t even try. He was so genuine that people just naturally acted honest around him; he was the type of person you could be vulnerable around. Keith and Pidge entered the house and were guided to the couch, where peanuts and popcorn and chips awaited them.

“I hope I didn’t bother you or anything.” Hunk said, offering them both a smile. Keith shook his head, but Pidge was the one the answered him.

“Nope. We were just playing video game and talking about ghosts.” Pidge shrugged and smiled back at Hunk, who nodded. “Your house isn’t haunted, is it?” Hunk chuckled and shook his head.

“No, it isn’t. At least no ghost has ever tried to communicate.” Hunk answered and Pidge hummed.

“Yeah, same as mine.” They added and looked at Keith, who was almost praying no one would drag him into that conversation. “Keith’s though...” Keith rolled his eyes; should he keep up his act now that he knew it was true? Should he keep pretending he was a nonbeliever now that he knew there _was_ , in fact, a ghost living under his roof? “Have I told you we were facetiming one time and I actually caught ghost activity in his room?” They turned back to Hunk, whose face went slightly pale. “Yeah! It happened! The ghost was pacing around or something, it was terrifying. Stuff fell, Keith almost died.”

“I did not.” Keith rolled his eyes at the exaggeration.

“The ghost was acting up because Keith was messing around with an Ouija board.” Pidge pointed their index finger at Keith, accusingly. Hunk gasped.

“Keith, I thought you said you wouldn’t use the board! You shouldn’t mess with them.” Hunk’s tone was slightly shaky and Keith sighed.

“I didn’t mess with it. I was keeping it around to mess with Pidge.” Keith said and Pidge narrowed their eyes. “Why the hell would I play with an Ouija board alone? Why would I play with it if ghosts aren’t even real?” Keith answered, defensively. He now knew the dangers of an Ouija board and regretted having even had the idea of using it to trick Pidge, but he couldn’t open that door to his friends because there would be no turning back from it.

“Ghosts are real and that was proof!” Pidge argued and Keith shrugged, making them even angrier. “You keep up that attitude and one day you’ll piss off the ghost so much you’ll end up dead.”

“Wasn’t the “ghost” only a trickster?” Keith used air quotes to say ghost and knew Pidge’s blood was boiling. “Or did I get that wrong?” He looked at Hunk.

“Yeah. It never hurt anyone before.” Hunk agreed. “But, you know... We don’t know a lot about it, so we probably shouldn’t... Piss it off or anything.” Hunk stated and Keith hummed. It felt weird. To hear them refer to Lance as an “it”; to know Lance was real, but maintain the act that he didn’t believe in ghosts. “Just in case.”

“I’m not pissing anyone off. I’m just living my life. Alone. In my house. Or with Shiro when he’s there.” Keith shrugged. Hunks hummed and Pidge rolled their eyes.

“One day you’ll see proof.” Pidge pointed at Keith. “And when that happens you’ll get wrecked and I won’t refrain from ‘I told you so’s, Keefer.” They said and narrowed their eyes. Oh, okay. Keith had made a smart choice by not telling Pidge just yet. Maybe he could start pretending to believe Pidge and Hunk gradually, so when he did tell them about Lance, he wouldn’t have to go through Pidge’s victory speech. “I hope your ghost haunts you to exhaustion.”

“So you hope me to go insane?” Keith asked and poked Pidge’s cheek. They grabbed Keith’s index finger and squeezed it.

“Yes.” Pidge answered and Keith rolled his eyes, holding back a grin. “You’re a fool, Keith Kogane. And you will lose everything.” They said, almost whispering.

“I think it’s very fitting that you’re quoting Lord Voldemort while talking about ghosts.” Keith grinned. “Since, you know, they’re both fictional and all.”

“If the ghost doesn’t kill you I’m going to.” Pidge let go of Keith’s finger and crossed their arms. “Hunk, you will help me hide the body, right?”

“I...” Hunk gulped. “As long as we don’t do it here. I’d like to keep my house not haunted, thank you very much.” He answered and nodded. Keith chuckled.

“Don’t worry, Hunk. If I become a ghost, I’ll haunt Pidge until the end of times, but I’ll leave you be.” Keith offered Hunk a smile and Hunk laughed loudly to him.

“Wouldn’t it be ironic if you, the one asshole who doesn’t believe in ghosts, ended up providing me with proof that ghosts exist after you die just because you want petty revenge?” Pidge smirked and adjusted their glasses; Keith’s smile vanished. “Check mate.”

“It’s not petty if you gruesomely murder me.” Keith frowned and Pidge shrugged.

“I never said it would be gruesome. I just said it would be murder.” They pointed out and Keith hummed. “You can’t beat the brain, samurai.” Keith chuckled and rolled his eyes.

Hunk changed the subject to what were they playing before going over and Pidge started to excitedly ramble about videogames. Keith was slightly relieved they were no longer discussing his death, but even more relieved that they weren’t discussing his, or anyone’s, life after death. As much as he knew Pidge was only joking, they were kind of terrifying.

The three of them continued talking as time passed; when it was around one in the morning, Hunk invited them to stay over. Pidge was more than happy to say yes, but Keith didn’t feel that comfortable yet, so he thanked Hunk and went home.

It wasn’t that Keith didn’t like being around his newly formed friends – in this specific case that meant Hunk – but he was insecure around people in some ways, so he preferred waiting. He preferred respecting his own boundaries instead of having thoughts or self-deprecation hammer into his mind the entire night. Keith knew himself, he knew he was a guy of processes. It was a process for him to trust others, to open up to others, to let them in and it was a process for him to go into someone’s life too. It worked both ways. And he was lucky enough to have met such wonderful people who understood that without him ever needing to say it out loud. Hunk, Allura and Coran respected Keith and his boundaries; they had befriended Keith for who he was and that was proof of how wonderful they were and how lucky Keith was.

Keith got to his house and drank a mug of chamomile tea before heading up to his room. He wasn’t exactly tired, to the tea would help him relax. Which, he decided when he got to his room, had been a great idea, since all of his books were scattered on the floor. He looked around and noticed Black was nowhere to be found. It was a merely a reflex. Because Keith _knew_ it hadn’t been her.

“What the...” Keith sighed. “Lance, what the hell?” Keith asked a little louder and bent over to catch the books that were on the floor.

“Heard you were talking shit about me.” He heard very near his ear when he stood back up and jumped, startled, dropping some of the books again. Keith turned around, but Lance was nowhere to be seen. Keith grabbed his books again and put them back on the shelf, then proceeded to grab his pyjamas and go dress in the bathroom.

“Don’t come after me. Boundaries.” Keith announced before leaving the room. Not sure if Lance was even there. What did he mean Keith was talking shit about him? He hadn’t even talked about Lance in the house, half apprehensive that Lance could possibly hear him, half because he didn’t even have someone to talk about Lance with.

Keith took his time brushing his teeth after he had put on his pyjamas, letting the water run hot and the steam taint the mirror. He slowly wrote down Lance’s name and a question mark, just in case, but got no response.

“I’m done dressing, if you want to talk.” Keith said a little bit louder, but not loud enough to risk waking Shiro up. He didn’t want Shiro to think he was crazy, after all. Keith spit the toothpaste and took water with his hands to his mouth so he could rinse it, looking down to spit it all down. He looked up to find the words ‘ _can’t talk tonight_ ’. Written on the mirror. He sighed. “Okay.” Keith started making the flow of the water diminish. The words ‘ _won’t ask why, beautiful?_ ’ formed on the glass. “Do you want me to?” Lance drew the shrug emoji back. Keith had never asked Lance how old he was, but that was proof enough that he had probably died quite recently. “Why can’t you talk tonight?” Lance drew another shrug emoji and wrote ‘ _lol_ ’ beside it. Keith sighed. “When you feel like talking let me know. Just don’t startle me like that again.” Keith waited for a response, but gave up after an entire minute. He stopped the water and went to his room, lying down on the bed.

His room was getting slightly colder and he thought maybe that was Lance letting Keith know he was there; even if Keith couldn’t see him. Even if Black wasn’t there to hiss at the apparent air and warn Keith he had company. They would need to talk about that; what were the boundaries? What limits should or could Keith impose to Lance? And did Lance need limits too? What were the extents of the things Lance could do? Keith was curious about Lance and he had been hoping for a chance to talk to Lance again; a chance to ask him questions, to maybe bond with Lance a little.

Lance intrigued Keith. He was new; everything about him was new. That made Keith want to see him again, to talk to him again; such feeling was, itself, new to Keith. He had never been this intrigued about someone else. About something? Absolutely. But not someone. Ever.

Keith ran his hands through his hair and sighed, closing his eyes and pulling the covers a bit closer to his face. He didn’t plan on sleeping just yet, he just wanted to think a little before actually falling asleep. Think about how years of believe had been torn apart in a month by someone Keith didn’t even know, but felt suddenly so intrigued by. It was natural scientific curiosity, right? Maybe Keith should’ve gone to college after all; since he was so drawn to scientific curiosity. Because that was it; him being intrigued by Lance was scientific curiosity.

He woke up with his lights off and checked his phone for the time; it was four am. Keith rolled to his side and sighed, letting himself doze off to sleep again without questioning why the lights were off, just feeling a weirdly comfortable and slightly cold air circling him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm really sorry it took me forever to update lol i,,,,,,, have no excuse lol <3 
> 
> once again, consider buying me a coffee and supporting my writing and my creative stuff: ko-fi.com/playlandi
> 
> and if you wanna talk to me outside of ao3 my social media are:  
> main instagram & main twitter: @playlandi  
> main tumblr and yt channel: @marsisnotcreative  
> les mis tumblr: @whensunscollide  
> side twitter: @omg_mcflybr (mainly bts lol)
> 
> thanks <3


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance talk and start figuring out some things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh yeah i uploaded again after a kind of reasonable amount of time yey dçfalk~lfklfsdk sorry i've been very worked up and life's crazy. recently my father's been on my ass about maybe kicking me out LIFE IS A LOT TBH ha haha anyway
> 
> consider buying me a coffee and supporting my writing and my creative stuff (and also maybe now my existence in general) : ko-fi.com/playlandi

Two more weeks without seeing Lance or talking to him and Keith was beginning to slip into disbelief again. Maybe he’d just hallucinated the interactions. Sure, there was a knife mark on his wardrobe door, so the knife throwing was undeniable, but maybe the rest wasn’t. He didn’t have proof. Maybe he had been just too stressed. Or had stayed home for too long and now that he was working, getting out of the house, connecting and bonding with people apart from Shiro, Pidge and Adam he had gotten back to a normal state of mind. So maybe, just maybe, Keith had had a borderline psychotic episode and needed to get back to therapy in case it happened again.

It had been easy to slip into shrugging off the weird occurrences again like he had at first. Doors slamming startled him less and footsteps were usually followed by him realising Black was nowhere to be seen and concluding it had been her. Whatever or whoever Keith had created in his mind was just a silhouette again; he could barely remember Lance’s facial features. He knew his hallucination was slim and his “skin” was dark and his “eyes” were blue. Deep blue. The bluest set of eyes Keith had ever seen - or imagined - in his life. But more than a month had passed and those deep blue eyes were the only thing Keith strongly, and in details, remembered.

Keith had gotten back to his normal nonbeliever life kind of deeply. He was peacefully drinking some black tea, sitting with his legs crossed in bed, when Black started hissing to his lava lamp; he pulled her closer and started petting her, but she didn’t stop. Keith sighed, confused and slightly annoyed.

“You know I think it’s healthy when you cat, but please stop?” He tried and she hissed again. Keith took another sip of his tea. “Black.” He tried again, but she jumped out of the bed, stopped on the floor, looking at the end of Keith’s bed and meowed. Keith frowned for a second, confused, and gulped when the possibility hit him. “Lance?” He tried and looked up, at the spot Black was looking at. The man sitting in front of him offered him a smile. “Oh.” Keith blinked a few times before starting to reach out.

“Don’t.” Lance said and Keith stopped himself; hand very near Lance’s left arm. “I’m not... materialised, I guess. So...” Keith nodded and retracted his hand, sitting back again. “Long time no seen, huh?”

“I thought I had hallucinated you.” Keith admitted. Maybe he _was_ going crazy and that was yet another hallucination. Lance scratched the back of his head and looked down, but didn’t answer. Black jumped on the bed and sat down by Lance’s feet, curling up into a ball. Silence fell and Keith drunk from his mug again, waiting. It was awkward and awful and he hated it, but he didn’t know what to say.

A month ago he would’ve casually slipped into conversation; he would’ve asked Lance a bunch of questions and tried getting answers from him and it would’ve been natural, but now... He didn’t even know whether that was real or if he was having some sort of episode.

“Sorry.” Lance spoke up, but didn’t look to Keith. “I...” He stopped for a second and nodded to himself. “I’m real.”

“Sounds like something a hallucination would say.” Keith deadpanned and Lance finally looked up, smiling lightly. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know, man, I’m dead, you know?” Lance answered and shrugged. Keith nodded.

“Sorry.” He said and Lance shook his head.

“No... I...” Lance stuttered. “Sometimes it’s a lot. And I never actually had someone to talk to, so I didn’t know how to deal and... Sorry I vanished.” Lance offered and Keith smiled at him. “And there was the whole boundaries thing. I had never thought about it before. Mostly because I used to keep my shit to a few rooms in the house and that’s it. No one’s ever called me out about it before, you know?” Keith hummed. “Plus I’m not very good at the whole materialising and all yet. It drained me a little more than I thought it would.”

“It’s a lot.” Keith said. He could understand that feeling. Lance nodded. “Sorry if I pushed somehow.”

“No, you’re cool.” Lance smiled wider. “But then I spent so long away I didn’t know how to come back. I didn’t want to startle you or anything. Not this time around.” Keith nodded. “We should talk boundaries if we’re going to do this whole interacting thing, right?.”

“Yeah.” Keith agreed and he could’ve sworn Lance’s eyes got brighter. Was it possible? He didn’t know. “Bathroom is a no go when I’m showering or any kind of naked.” Lance nodded and scratched the back of his head. “I’ll try keeping the nakedness to the bathroom, so the room can be a collective zone.”

“I thought about leaving the common areas as common areas. So kitchen, living room, attic are all okay for me to do my thing. And by that I meant haunting. ‘Cause that’s what ghosts do, I guess?” Lance frowned and Keith chuckled, nodding. “But your brother’s room is and will continue being a Lance-free zone.”

“Yeah, that’s good.” Keith nodded and Lance smiled wider. “And the guest room?”

“No man’s land, but Lance-free when you have guests over?” He offered and Keith chuckled, agreeing with the proposition.

“No more messing with my books or breaking stuff.” Keith said and Lance frowned.

“I don’t necessarily control that?” Lance admitted and Keith frowned, confused. “Like, yeah, okay, I’ll prank you carefully and I won’t go for the books or anything fragile, but when I get angry or something... I just… release a lot of energy and it doesn’t necessarily do what I want?”

“So you have anger management issues?” Keith asked, chuckling and Lance rolled his eyes, smiling.

“It’s stronger than me, I guess. I don’t mean to break stuff, but it’s not like I can hide how I feel anymore.” Lance shrugged. “I’m all energy, baby.” Keith frowned at being called ‘baby’, but didn’t comment on it. “It just happens. I try controlling, but...”

“Okay.” Keith nodded. “In that case it’s... fine. As long as you promise you’ll keep trying to control it?” It was Lance’s turn to nod and Keith hummed. “Cool.”

“So, Keith...” Lance started and raised an eyebrow. Keith frowned slightly. “Why not admit that I’m real?”

“What... Do you mean?” Keith was confused. How did Lance know that?

“You keep denying my existence to your friends and I don’t think you need to hold on to your pride so much.” Lance shrugged. Keith was probably still looking really confused because Lance explained. “A while ago you were talking about the ghost in your house at your neighbour’s and you said there isn’t one. But you know there’s me.”

“You... heard that?” Keith’s frown muscles were starting to hurt a little, so he took his hand to them and started massaging his face. “I thought you couldn’t leave the house.”

“I can.” Lance shrugged again. “I just don’t do it a lot. Hurts.”

“Oh...” Keith blinked a few times, letting it sink in. “How far from the house can you get?”

“Never tested it, but I think as far as I want?” Lance guessed and scratched the back of his neck. “I don’t think there’s a limit. I came here from the hospital and stayed.” Keith nodded.

“Do you think it would hurt more the further you were from the house?” Keith’s scientific curiosity was officially back; Lance frowned.

“That’s not...” He sighed. “Could we not talk about that?” Keith nodded, dropping the subject right away. He knew how uncomfortable he got when people pressured him into talking and to be completely honest he didn’t quite know Lance yet, so he didn’t know whether Lance was like him or not. Better safe than sorry. “You didn’t answer me though. Why not admit I’m real?”

“Pidge won’t let me see the end of it.” Keith answered right away. Lance hummed in response. “I need to be prepared first. Ease them into knowing.”

“Sounds troublesome.” Lance frowned and Keith shrugged, intertwining his own fingers and playing with them. They stayed silent for a while and it felt awful. Keith had so many questions he’s wanted to ask Lance before, but now he could feel the distance between them. It was natural, he figured; they didn’t know each other, so, naturally, their interactions wouldn’t come smooth all the time, right? Especially considering that they had spent a long time apart since Lance had vanished.

Keith wondered where he had been that entire time, but something in his guts told him it was best not to question Lance about it. He followed his instincts and pushed the topic aside in his head. Maybe eventually he could get to it. Maybe eventually he could get to everything; intimacy came with time and some practice.

“How does it work to be visible or not?” Keith broke the silence, trying out a question that seemed harmless but also could satisfy some of his own curiosity. Lance, who had his eyes locked on Keith’s moving fingers before, looked up into Keith’s eyes and smiled softly. Keith tried not dwelling on that smile for too long, but his brain registered how weirdly warm it made him feel.

“It’s voluntary. I choose when I’m going to show myself to people and when I’m not.” Lance started explaining. He took his right hand to the same height as their eyes were and all of a sudden it was no longer there. “Which means I can do this.” His hand was back and his soft smile had turned into a grin. Keith could feel that his eyes had widened slightly. He had to mentally remind himself the guy in front of him was a ghost; that didn’t make the episode any more calming and normal, though. “It’s one of the many skills I have.”

“Is it a general ghost thing?” Keith asked, genuinely interested. “Are there types of ghosts?” Lance hummed.

“Most spirits I’ve met were very lowkey. Contrary to popular belief, people move on fairly quickly. Even after gruesome deaths. I’ve met five spirits in my death-time. One of them was your proper horror movie vengeful spirit, but he was so intense he had no control over what he could do, which meant he couldn’t do most things. Moving shit around was never on purpose, he couldn’t get himself to be seen, much less materialise. He stayed in the house for about three days until he just moved somewhere else because he legit couldn’t stand sharing the place with me.”

“Are you _that_ bad of a roommate?” Keith joked and Lance rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.

“There was a kid in the house back then and I was her friend, kinda. So I was decided to protect her no matter what; that pissed him off and he left.” Lance shrugged. “Three other spirits I actually saw dying. It was... An experience. I saw them getting out of their bodies and just... Poof.” Lance motioned his hands mimicking an explosion. “There are coloured lights involved and it’s... Weird. Because when you’re alive and you see someone dying you get absolutely traumatised and all. It’s not something we’re prepared to see happening. But when you’re like me... It doesn’t seem as bad. It’s actually kind of pretty seeing someone moving on.” He shrugged. Keith nodded.

“What about the fifth one?” Keith asked after waiting a while for him to continue and not having him doing so. Lance sighed. Or something close to sighing. Keith wondered if Lance could breathe.

“He had been around for a while already. He had a reason to, he felt responsible for people and places he had left behind. So he had consciously chosen to stay. But never to meddle.” Lance’s lips formed a thin line and he paused for a while. “He taught me some things I know about how to ghost, but overall he just stood close and he just watched. It took him two months after us meeting to move on. It took us some talking and all, but eventually he did.” Lance scratched the back of his head. “So, yeah. Lowkey ghosts.”

“And you decided you’d take a different path.” Keith asked, trying to relieve the tension that lingered in the air. Lance grinned.

“I would never dare betray my own essence and be lowkey, Keith.” Lance answered and Keith rolled his eyes. “Besides, there aren’t many things to do when you’re a spirit hanging around. I tried lowkey for a few months, but it’s been a while and things get dull after that time.” He shrugged. “Haunting seemed fitting for me.” Keith nodded. “So, yeah, I can control when I’m seen or not, but that’s because I’m chill. Vengeful spirits, apparently, cannot. And it’s like a switch: on and off. It’s the least energy consuming skill I have.”

“The most energy consuming would be materialising?” Keith had hypothesis about this, but he couldn’t be sure, so asking Lance was the smartest thing to do. Lance nodded in response.

“Moving stuff around is still tricky because it depends on what I’m moving. Unlocking doors is not energy consuming, but it’s freaking impossible, seriously... Too much logic involved, too much trouble and ain’t nobody got time for that. And I’m trying to understand ways to make materialising less exhausting. At first I couldn’t make myself be seen and when I learnt it, it took me forever to be able to do it to specific sections of my body without losing control and vanishing for a long time again.”

“Is that what happened?” Keith tried his luck. “You overworked yourself and was forced into a break?” Lance nodded, but didn’t explain any further.

“Messing with temperature and the wind is a piece of cake. Also with water, for some reason. I have little to no control of fire, so I don’t mess with it. Tried once when the kid I mentioned accidentally set her doll on fire, but... Well, that didn’t turn out great. No one was hurt, but the doll disintegrated.” Lance hummed.

“What about being heard? You weren’t showing up, but you did communicate with me once, right?” Keith pointed out and Lance nodded.

“Yeah. When I’m worn out I still manage some stuff. Just not being visible. There are two ways I can make myself be heard: through focusing on making myself be heard, so the same mechanism as being visible; or through focusing on the sound waves, which requires a bit more study and practice. I chose the second path because worn out Lance can’t go through the first path.” Lance’s explanation was... weirdly nearly scientific, Keith thought. For a supernatural phenomenon, at least. “But even that can get me sometimes, I suppose.” Lance shrugged. “And writing on the steamed glass has to do with messing with water, which is particularly easy for me.” Keith nodded.

“Sounds hard.” Keith admitted and Lance frowned for a second. “Being a ghost, I mean. Sounds like there’s a lot to learn.”

“Oh.” Lance chuckled. “I like thinking of it as experimenting. Kinda like a scientist, you know?” Lance said and smiled wide. “And eventually maybe I could become a ghosting coach or something, you know what I mean? Make a whole business out of teaching ghosts how to ghost.”

“I guess capitalism follows us in the afterlife.” Keith commented and Lance laughed at the joke, making Keith smile. “Wouldn’t you need to stay here to do that, though? I mean... Aren’t spirits meant to move on?” Lance rolled his eyes.

“Way to ruin my fun, mullet.” Lance stood up and Keith was kind of surprised that he was... floating a little? Which shouldn’t have surprised Keith, since the boy _was_ a ghost, but... Black meowed. “See? Even Black agrees you’re a spoil sports.” Lance said and Black meowed again. Lance kneeled, still not touching the ground, and Black walked towards him. He carefully reached out and Black rubbed her head against his hand, making Lance smile wide. “Oh yeah, baby! She likes me now.”

“You can have her.” Keith rolled his eyes and Lance jumped, launching himself back onto the bed.

“She’s not even yours to give.” Lance shrugged. “Besides, that’s very mean of you, Keith. Are you implying you want Black’s demise?” Keith rolled his eyes.

“Shut up, Lance.” He said and Lance grinned. Black meowed. “Thanks, Black.” Lance took one hand to his chest, dramatically.

“Ouch, you wound me, Black.” He said but didn’t stop smiling. “I should probably go now.” He said and scratched the back of his neck. Keith frowned slightly.

“You’ll be back...” Keith started and hesitated. “Right?” He closed his mouth in a thin line and Lance’s smile grew softer as he nodded. “Okay.”

“I’ll be here. Just not...” He motioned to his body. “You know... So you can... Talk to me if you want.” Lance chuckled. “Answers not guaranteed, though. I like to keep them hanging, if you know what I mean.” Lance winked at him. Keith rolled his eyes and chuckled too. Lance nodded and vanished. Keith kept looking at where Lance was before for a while and swallowed audibly. Black jumped on the bed and sat in front of Keith, meowing. Keith took his hand to her and started petting the cat.

“Well, this is unsettling.” He chuckled. “Don’t you dare betraying me, you weird cat.” Black meowed and Keith chuckled. Keith sipped at his now cold tea and sighed, standing up to go to the kitchen and heat it up. Was it heretic? Yes, surely, but he wasn’t in the mood for cold tea.

Keith heated up his tea in the microwave because since he was being heretic he would go all the way. While he waited, he leaned on the counter and grabbed his phone, which he had thankfully taken down with him, checking the unread texts he had.

Pidge was freaking out about cuddling Hunk and Keith just sent them the rolling eyes emoji as a response to them not being sure whether they should tell Hunk what they felt. The groupchat was going crazy with memes and two conversations at the same time; that made Keith confused, so he opted out from reading any of them, but saved the good memes and stickers to his gallery. Shiro had texted him saying that Adam was going over to have dinner with them. Keith hadn’t actually seen Adam in a while, so he just answered with a smiling emoji.

He got his tea from the microwave and googled ‘what happens when you die?’. The results were plenty, but inconclusive. That’s not what he wanted to know, he already knew what happened when you died. According to what Lance had told him you either become a ghost here or something with colours and lights happen and you move on. That’s the part Keith was interested about.

Moving on.

He had watched his quota of Ghost Whisperer and read his share of The Mediator to know one simple thing: ghosts needed to move on. And Lance hadn’t. But what did “moving on” meant? Did it mean not being able to contact the living ever again? Also, did that mean that mediums were _actually_ a thing? And if so: did they contact only ghosts that were still around or could they contact ghosts from the afterlife. After life meaning wherever they went to after they had… moved on.

Did they even go anywhere after moving on? What if they simply stopped existing?

Keith only noticed he had been standing there, holding his phone, thinking about all of those things, all of those infinite possibilities, for a very long time when he heard the front door opening. He heard Adam’s voice and cursed himself for letting his tea go cold again, so he just gulped the whole thing down and washed his mug before going to the living room to greet Shiro and Adam.

Adam looked older, Keith thought; which was weird. It hadn’t been that long since they had last seen each other.

“Keith, hello!” They let go of each other. Adam smiled at him and Keith nodded, hugging him bro-style. “How have you been doing?”

“Fine. What about you?” Keith answered and Adam nodded.

“I’ve been well.” He adjusted his glasses and held Shiro’s hand. “Takashi mentioned you’re working again?”

“Oh, yeah. Allura got me a job at Altea, which is her café. It’s nice, I like it.” Keith said and smiled back at him.

“And how have you been dealing with the new house?” Adam asked.

“It’s not… new anymore, I guess?” Keith answered, a little confused. Shiro chuckled loudly.

“He means it because it’s ‘haunted’.” Shiro explained, making air quotes. Adam blushed a little bit. “Keith and I don’t believe in ghosts, right, Keith?”

“I…” Keith started and wondered if agreeing would hurt Lance, so he stopped. “Weird stuff happens, but I’ve found explanations for all of them up until now.” He said; it wasn’t a lie. The explanation to most of them was a ghost, but it was an explanation. “You should talk to Hunk, though. He has a lot of ghost stories about the house. He’s been collecting testimonies from previous residents.” Adam hummed and Shiro rolled his eyes. “Some of the stories are actually pretty entertaining.”

“Oh, I think I would be terrified to live in a haunted house.” Adam said and chuckled.

“It isn’t haunted. Ghosts aren’t real.” Shiro said. “Right, Keith?” Keith opened his mouth to speak and felt a shiver down his spine. Did that mean Lance was listening to the conversation?

“Are you sleeping over?” Keith tried changing the subject, even though it had been very subtle, so Shiro just shrugged. It didn’t matter to him. He was convinced ghosts weren’t real and he was convinced Keith agreed. Adam shook his head.

“No, I… Have a lot to do in the morning. I’m just staying for diner.” He explained.

“He’s scared the ghost will get him.” Shiro said and laughed. Keith chuckled lightly; it was funny because he _knew_ Shiro’s room was a Lance-free zone.

“It’s okay, Adam. Hunk doesn’t like staying over either.” Keith said and smiled at him, trying to be reassuring. Adam nodded. “I’m going upstairs, call me when diner’s here?” Shiro nodded and Keith left.

He got back to his research. Maybe it would be better to try and find books about those topics? But then Lance would see the books. What if he had a notebook and wrote down all of his doubts so he could ask Lance about them. Maybe he could leave the notebook open and Lance could write down answers so he didn’t have to materialise so they could talk. Also could they communicate orally without Lance having to show up? Too many questions.

Keith decided to get a notebook and start writing them down, one by one. The first one was “can we communicate in any way that wears you out less?” and so on. It was good; he could track his thoughts like that and register his progress with knowing stuff about ghosts. That would be cool. So when he finally told Pidge about believing, he would have scientific – kind of – data collected with actual information about how ghost-stuff worked. Maybe that would get Pidge off his back for a while.

By the time Shiro had called him for dinner, the notebook was already half full of questions and thoughts.

They talked about Adam’s work and Shiro’s work and about whether or not Keith planned to get into university – which was a big nope – and as soon as Keith was done eating, he excused himself, got some chamomile tea and went to his room. He left the mug on his bedside table and went to the bathroom with his pyjamas, took a shower, changed into them, brushed his teeth and went back to his room.

Black was, as always, following him around, but she didn’t sit next to him on the bed, she sat on the other side of it, snuggling close to nothingness that Keith knew it could only be Lance. She meowed and purred; Keith felt the corners of his lips tugging upwards, changing into a smile. He grabbed his mug and the notebook, noticing there was a different calligraphy in his notebook.

‘ _that’s a lot of questions, beautiful. chill out a bit. rest. don’t get too worked up on ghost stuff. we’ll talk again soon. c:_ ”

Keith smiled and closed the notebook.

“Night, Lance. Talk to you soon.” He got under his blanket and turned his back to the door; Black snuggled up closer to him as he hugged his stuffed hippo. Suddenly he felt a heat wave behind him, as if someone was next to him. The thought of it made Keith go to sleep smiling like a fool.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soooo! i hope yall liked it  
> i've gotten questions about what's up with lance's death...... LOL so that's gonna be spoken about, ok? i promise. i'm just,,,, my style of writing consists in leaving a bunch of stuff open and i know it might seem like plot holes, but they're not, i promise i have everything major planned out and written down and all. i just like slow burns and mystery, that is all.
> 
> once again, consider buying me a metaphorical coffee: ko-fi.com/playlandi
> 
> and if you wanna talk to me outside of ao3 my social media are:  
> main instagram & main twitter: @playlandi  
> main tumblr and yt channel: @marsisnotcreative  
> les mis tumblr: @whensunscollide  
> my curious cat: @marsyparsy  
> side twitter: @_scenesaw (mainly bts lol)


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance's relationship develop slowly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yoyoyoyo i'm back and i'm on winter break which means i'll be able to post more çdflskldafks  
> sorry for the delay!
> 
> consider buying me a coffee and supporting my writing and my creative stuff (and also maybe now my existence in general) : ko-fi.com/playlandi

In one of their encounters, which had started to happen at least twice a week, Lance had asked Keith’s permission to read his books and Keith had agreed to it as long as he was careful. Keith couldn’t stop thinking about how that made Lance seemingly glow brighter.

Keith learnt that Lance was a ridiculously fast reader because he read at least two books every week. Sure, the fact that he literally had nothing else to do and could spend literally all his time reading probably helped, but, still. Some of the books weren’t even that short. But that meant that eventually the books would end, so Keith tried learning more about what sort of books Lance liked the most so he could either buy some or get some from a library for Lance. If Lance had realised his plan, he didn’t let it show.

Their encounters had started being spent talking about ghost stuff, but after some time, Keith started sharing personal stuff. It had started after a very busy Wednesday at Altea. Keith had gotten home and gone straight to shower. His routine consisted in making himself some tea first and _then_ showering, but he had some remaining ice cream on him. He got out of the shower, went downstairs, made himself passionfruit and chamomile tea and went straight to his room, lying down on his bed and leaving the door half open in case Black felt like getting in there with him.

He sipped his tea and sighed, closing his eyes for an instant. He needed to breathe and calm down.

“Lance?” Keith asked when he felt the temperature of the room getting warmer.

“You okay there, buddy?” Lance’s voice sounded worried, Keith thought. That made him chuckle lightly for some reason. “Want me to come back another time?”

“I…” Keith started and hesitated. Did he? “Actually…” He opened his eyes, feeling them a little wetter than they were supposed to be. “No.”

“Kay.” Lance answered and smiled at him. “Can I…” He pointed to the bed and Keith nodded, sitting down and hugging his knees to his chest, so Lance sat down closer to him than the usual. “Thanks.” Keith hummed in response. Lance didn’t keep his eyes off of Keith’s face; his expression looked confused and Keith felt like he owed Lance at least _some_ explanation, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to talk about it without tearing up at least a little. And he wasn’t quite sure he wanted Lance to see him like that, so… vulnerable. “You, know, I really can come back another time if you…”

“No.” Keith interrupted Lance. “I want you to stay.” He said and hugged his knees tighter. “If that’s okay…”

“Yeah, sure thing, bud.” Lance answered and shuffled a bit closer to Keith. “Do you want to talk about it?” Keith shrugged. “Okay… Do you want to talk about anything? Ghost stuff, maybe? That always gets you going, right?” Keith frowned.

“Don’t phrase it like that.” He said and Lance chuckled. “I don’t know. It’s been a rough day, so… I don’t know.”

“I’m all ears.” Lance said and his face softened into a smile that made Keith feel warmer. He could trust Lance, right? It’s not like Lance would tell anyone whatever Keith told him, but also, Lance had proven himself to be a decent guy. So he could trust Lance, right?

“There was a… situation at work.” Keith started talking. Lance’s eyes were fixed on his face. “This couple was there and the girl went to the bathroom or whatever and the guy started hitting on Allura, my friend who’s also my boss. And it was super awful and uncomfortable and Allura was trying to politely tell him to fuck off, reminding him his girlfriend was there and telling him she wasn’t interested. But he wouldn’t stop, you know?” Keith could feel his body getting tenser; and he could swear the room was getting even warmer now. “So I obviously stepped up and told the guy ‘hey, pal, fuck off, she’s not interested and you’re being an abusive prick’ and the guy _freaked out_! He started throwing slurs at me and telling me to go fuck myself on a stick and things like that as he was standing up and coming towards me.” Keith sighed. “So I pushed him and that was… dumb.” Lance bit his own lower lip. “Before the guy could hit me or anything his girlfriend got back and asked him what had happened, so he obviously lied to her and said that both Allura and I had been hitting on him? Which is… so fucking ridiculous, you know? And this girl? She believed him and went for Allura!”

“What?” Lance’s voice was a bit higher than the usual and the room was _definitely_ warmer. Keith noticed his tea mug was shaking a little bit on top of his bedside table, so he sat down with his legs crossed and grabbed it before it fell down. Lance’s eyes went to the mug and then back to Keith’s face.

“I know, right? I was quick and put myself between them, so I got slapped on the face, but Allura didn’t. Allura is a super beautiful, lady-like, proper royalty type of person, so she just very polite and _terrifyingly_ told them off and made them leave the café, but the girl managed to grab her milkshake and throw it at me before going away.” Keith sighed again, feeling his eyes watering. “Allura told me to come home right away, but I really didn’t want to be alone or anything, so I tried cleaning myself as well as I could and finished my shift.” He wiped his eyes with his free hand. “I’m just… Stressed and angry and I wish I had, I don’t know, broken the guy’s nose or something.”

“Yeah…” Lance said. “I feel that.” He said and clenched his jaw. “But you helped your friend, so that’s a good thing, right?” Keith nodded, taking a sip of his tea. Lance’s eyes were still fixed on Keith’s face, but in an unsettling way.

“I hate not being able to do things, though. This whole situation is awful and unfair and Allura shouldn’t have to go through it. Men are assholes.” Keith said and Lance’s face softened a little bit. “And I’m not… The best at managing my anger, so it took me all I had not to go after the asshole and deck him.” Lance chuckled.

“Oh, who’s got an anger management issue now, huh?” He said and Keith rolled his eyes. “I’m proud of you, mullet.”

“Shut up.” Keith rolled his eyes again and Lance’s smile widened. “Anyway, let’s talk about something else.” Lance nodded and started talking about the book he was reading, making Keith completely forget about what had happened to him at work.

After that time, they would always slip some personal information in their conversations. Lance would talk about whatever he was reading or had just read, or about how he missed ‘chocomint’ ice cream; Keith would talk about his day, or tell Lance some story about his childhood with Shiro. They didn’t cease the ghost-stuff talking, though. Keith found out that making the room warmer was less energy consuming for Lance than making it colder, but neither of them knew why; he also found out that Lance had been taking the books to read in the attic, since it was the room less people went to in the house and he didn’t want to risk Shiro seeing books floating around or pages being turn for no apparent reason.

If their encounter was on a Sunday, Lance wouldn’t necessarily appear for Keith, since they had more time than the other days. They would talk almost the entire day but Lance usually only showed himself to Keith at night in Keith’s room when his door was closed.

After a while they didn’t even talk, they just stayed with each other, both always sitting on Keith’s bed. Keith would play something on his phone or computer and Lance would either read something or play with Black. But Lance started to stay for longer and that made Keith worry. Because if he stayed for too long it meant they wouldn’t see each other for even longer and Keith didn’t like that. He really didn’t. But he didn’t argue with Lance about it a lot. He had once and Lance hadn’t been exactly happy.

“Hey, Lance.” Keith said in one of their encounters; Lance hummed. “Can you get me a glass of water?” Keith didn’t look up from his computer, but heard Lance huffing.

“I’m not your lazy ass’ personal waiter.” Lance answered and kept playing with Black’s paws. Keith shrugged.

“I just figured you could use your abilities for something other than moving my shit around and pranking me.” Keith answered and Lance huffed again. “Would that take up a lot of energy?” Keith finally looked at him.

“Not really. I just don’t want to do it.” Lance shrugged and Keith hummed, knowing he wasn’t in his right to be annoyed. They both fell silent for a while again, so Keith looked back to his laptop. After some time, Lance spoke up. “Hey, Keith.” Keith hummed. “This Allura girl... Whenever she’s over you two seem very… friendly, I suppose… You into her?”

“You can’t get me a glass of water but you have no problem eavesdropping my private conversations?” Keith asked, a hint of irony on his voice, still looking at the computer screen.

“I’m not _eavesdropping_. I’m just... there.” Lance answered, sounding offended. “Don’t talk about personal stuff if you don’t want to risk me listening to it. Or do it in Shiro’s room.” Keith sighed. “So, do you?” Keith looked up at Lance with neutral expression on his face.

“I’m gay, Lance.” He said and Lance immediately looked up to him, eyes slightly wider than the usual. “You’d be a terrible detective.”

“Oh...” Lance said and blinked a few times. “Oh.” He repeated and Keith waited. “Okay...”

“Like I said: terrible detective.” Keith repeated and smiled at Lance, fondly. Lance huffed. “You okay?”

“Yeah!” Lance said and nodded rapidly. “I’m great, I’m... Great.”

“You’re shocked.” Keith narrowed his eyes. “You’re not... A homophobe or anything, right? ‘Cause everyone is queer in this household. And so are our friends. Pidge, Hunk, Matt, Adam. Even Coran ain’t a het.” Keith said, half-jokingly, but actually scared that Lance could actually have a problem with his sexuality. Lance chuckled.

“Oh, no, man! I’m bi.” Lance said, but frowned. “Or was. I don’t know...”

“Do you feel sexual or romantic attraction as a ghost?” Keith asked, genuinely curious and Lance hummed. Lance looked back at Black, but Keith could tell if he was thinking about the question just by the look on his face.

“I guess.” Lance said and frowned. “It’s different, though. Sexual attraction at least. I’m not corporeal, so I don’t think my... Junk works? No blood and all. But I’ve never… Tried, you know?” Lance said, curling up a little bit. Keith hummed casually. “I can tell when someone’s hot and if it’s someone I would have had the hots for if I were still alive, I guess? It’s more, like...” Lance looked up and reached out for Keith, who reached out back. Lance put their hands very close, but didn’t let them touch. “Can you feel this? The energy that comes from me?” Keith nodded. “Energy is how I feel everything. The vibrations, speed and force, I guess... I don't know... Technical terms, but it’s as if I can feel these jolts of electricity travelling through specific parts of my body. Depending on the feeling, the energy vibrates differently. When I’m angry it feels like an explosion, for instance. When I’m really sad it feels like there’s something draining all my energy from me; but nothing actually is, it’s just a feeling.” Lance was looking at Keith’s hand and touched their hands, focusing on something. Keith felt his hand tingle, but he couldn’t feel Lance’s hand against his; he figured Lance was probably focusing on not making his own hand corporeal. “Sexual attraction is a painless shock to the pit of my stomach, basically. Romantic attraction...” Lance started, but vanished for a nanosecond. Keith retrieved his hand, startled. “Shit. Sorry...” Lance said, being back in front of Keith. Keith looked up into his eyes. He looked dimmer now, almost just a silhouette.

“You’re flickering.” Keith commented, watching what seemed like Lance lagging in front of him. Lance’s lips became a thin line and he nodded. “You have to go.” Keith said, not very happy.

“Just for a bit.” Lance answered, smiling at him. “I guess I overestimated my stamina this time.” Keith nodded as Lance kept flickering, every time coming back more and more see through.

“You have to go.” Keith repeated and Lance nodded, vanishing from Keith’s sight without saying another word. “Lance?” No answer. Black meowed and moved in a weird way; Keith chuckled; Black could really see Lance even when Keith couldn’t. “You like him now, don’t you?” He asked, smiling. Black meowed loudly. Keith took his attention back to his computer screen.

Black had gotten attached to Lance and Keith wished he could definitely tell Pidge they were officially the _only_ person Black didn’t like. But he couldn’t. Not yet.

After that, it took Lance a whole week to be back. He didn’t try to communicate with Keith in any way during that time. Keith realised he hated it. He hated Lance’s absence. A lot. But he kept it to himself, never knowing if Lance was around or not. Keith, on the other hand, had tried communicating a bit through the week, never getting any responses. So on the Sunday he went over at Hunk’s with the rest of the squad, so they could eat together and play some Mario Kart.

The whole day went by fine and, thankfully, without any ghost talk. He hated having to deny Lance’s existence now that they had become friends. Which… they had, right? Keith tried not to think about that too hard because it always led him to awful anxiety and sleepless nights. Especially since, apparently, Lance wasn’t talking to him. Probably due to overworking himself, Keith had tried to convince himself of.

Keith and Shiro went back home by nightfall and Keith was surprised to see Lance standing next to his bookshelf as soon as he entered his room.

“The hell, Lance?” Keith quickly closed the door behind him. “What if Shiro had seen you?” Lance shrugged.

“I’m almost done with your books… You asked me to let you know when I was.” He said and grabbed Keith’s copy of Viginia Woolf’s Orlando.

“I’m serious, Lance.” Keith insisted and sat on his bed. Lance glared at him.

“What? Scared people will find out you’re lying to them about your scepticism?” Lance said and Keith frowned, confused.

“What? No, you idiot. I meant it as in Shiro would call the police if he saw a stranger in my bedroom messing with my books.” Keith rolled his eyes.

“Oh…” Lance said and softened his expression. “Anyway, sorry, I was just playing with Black a bit and she left, so I started going through the books to see which ones I hadn’t read yet. I’ll be on my way now.”

“No, wait.” Keith said and Lance’s grip on the book tightened. “Are you okay?”

“Peachy.” Lance answered and gave Keith a thumbs up. “Is that all?”

“Jesus, Lance, why are you being so rude?” Keith asked and threw his pillow at Lance, who vanished into thin air. “Asshole.” Keith whispered and had to hold back a scream when Lance appeared again _really_ close to his face. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing is wrong with me.” Lance answered and stepped back slightly, just enough so their faces weren’t almost touching. “You told me to go and I did. You told me to wait and I did. Now I’m going back to being gone.”

“What?” Keith asked, confused. “I didn’t tell you to be gone…”

“Yes you did.” Lance said and Keith rolled his eyes.

“Because you were _flickering_ , Lance!” Keith explained, as if it was obvious. “I was worried about you, you thick skulled dumbass.”

“Oh…” Lance stepped back again. “You… were?” Keith pinched the bridge of his nose. “Oh…”

“Honestly, why are you like this? Of course I was. Last time you had to spend a whole month without showing up, Lance, so of course I was worried.” Keith said and Lance sat down in front of him.

“I thought…” He started saying. “Sorry I ignored you the whole week.” Keith shook his head slightly and chuckled.

“It’s okay. I assumed you were just tired.” Keith said and shrugged. “Or at least I tried to.” He pointed to the book Lance was holding. “That one’s very good.” Lance hummed.

“So I’ve heard…” Lance blinked a few times, looking at the book. “My best friend used to really be into it, but I never got around to reading it before, so…”

“Oh, yeah. It took me a while to read it too. Pidge really likes that book. Hunk was the one who recommended it to them, actually. And they recommended it to me.” Keith told Lance, who didn’t answer. “It took me about three months to read it. Until Pidge showed up in my apartment with the book and basically made me start reading it because, and I’m quoting, it’s a gift and it’s rude if you don’t read books gifted to you right away.” Keith chuckled. “Pidge is ridiculous sometimes. But it’s a good book, so it was worth it.”

“You care a lot about your friends, don’t you?” Lance pointed out and Keith felt his face getting warmer. “It’s sweet.”

“I guess… I don’t know.” Keith shrugged and Lance looked up to him, smiling wide. “Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything.” Lance chuckled. “Have you checked the notebook lately?” Lance asked and Keith frowned. “The one with the ghost information. I actually answered some other questions from it there this week…” Keith quickly opened the drawer of his bedside table and started going through the notebook. Lance had written some stuff down about how feelings translated into energy, which they had been talking about when he had started flickering, and also some of Keith’s earlier questions about ‘moving on’. “I don’t know a lot about some of those things either, though. I know things from practice, mostly, and I haven’t done some of those things… Like the whole moving on part.”

“Yeah…” Keith said and kept on reading the things Lance had written. “Would you like to, though? Move on, I mean.”

“I… don’t know? I used to a first, but a lot happened.” He answered. “Now I’m not sure I’m capable of it.”

“What do you mean?” Keith looked up for a second, but Lance wasn’t there anymore.

“It’s been a while… since I…” Lance’s voice answered. Keith went back to reading the notebook as Lance answered him. “You know?” Keith hummed in response. “So I don’t know…”

“But would you like to?” Keith asked again.

“I guess? It’s kind of the natural order of things? I don’t think it really matters whether I want to or not. It’s bound to happen at some point.” Lance answered and Keith knew him well enough to know there was some bitterness to his voice.

“I’ve thought about it for a while… And maybe, if you wanted to… I could help?” Keith tried his luck. “It doesn’t mean I want you gone or anything, I just… We don’t really know what happens to a spirit if they stay around for too long, right?”

“I guess…” Lance answered. “That would be cool, I suppose… If you want to.”

“Yeah. I’d love to help.” Keith answered and looked up again at where Lance was before. “If you want me to.” No response. Keith waited for a while. “Lance? You still here?” Lance appeared again and Keith jumped a little, making Lance chuckle.

“Sure. I guess I’m going to have to move on at some point, right? I just don’t know how to do that. And maybe you could write it all down, keep a journal… Make it scientific and all and maybe help other spirits in the future if any of them show themselves to you?” Lance said and Keith nodded. “I’m… Kinda still tired, so I’m going to… Go.”

“Oh…” Keith said and stopped. “Okay… Sure.” He offered Lance a smile, but Lance didn’t smile back. “Am I seeing you again soon?” Lance narrowed his eyes for a second and then smiled, touching Keith’s leg lightly. Keith couldn’t feel Lance’s hand, but he could feel the energy emanating from Lance, tickling his skin beneath his pants.

“Yup.” Lance said. “I’ll be back as soon as I can, no worries.” He smiled wider. “Night, Keith.”

“Night, Lance.” Keith blinked and when he opened his eyes, Lance wasn’t there anymore, but his copy of Orlando was floating, which made him laugh. “This is the funniest shit I’ve ever seen, oh my God.” His door opened up seemingly by itself.

“Shut up.” Lance answered and the book went out of Keith’s sight. Black meowed from the hallway and Keith heard the attic door opening and closing; Black entered Keith’s room and jumped on his bed, snuggling closer to him.

“I know, Black… He’s a dumbass.” He chuckled and Black meowed. “Yeah, I guess he _is_ fine… For a dumbass.” Black meowed again and Keith laughed, petting her with one hand and using the other to change the pages of the notebook, going through all of Lance’s answers.

Once he was done with reading, he lied down and started thinking about the current events; about how close he had gotten to Lance. Lance knew a lot about him, he realised. But he knew very little about Lance.

He knew Lance’s favourite pizza and ice cream flavours, he knew Lance loved reading, he knew Lance was bisexual, he knew Lance was half latino, he knew Lance had a best friend he missed a lot, but that was it. Lance, on the other hand, knew everything about Keith. Keith felt weird about that. He tried telling himself it was solely because if he knew that little about Lance how could he help Lance moving on? But deep down he knew that wasn’t why it bothered him.

What if knowing so little about Lance meant that they weren’t really friends? That Lance didn’t feel for Keith what Keith felt for Lance? That Keith had gotten it all wrong. Keith’s self-doubt was trying to eat him alive from that realisation, but he wouldn’t let it. Because he didn’t want to ruin things with Lance.

It sucked that he couldn’t talk to anyone about that, though. Maybe he should go back to therapy. Or maybe he should just ask Lance about things. That was it: he was going to ask Lance about things. Because they were friends. They were definitely friends. Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok marsy parsy is back even though they suck at keeping a schedule...   
> imma be honest, i've been having a lot of money problems that have influenced my writing and posting as well as my whole life. depression's also been a bitch, so there's that. like,, legit...................
> 
> anyway i have NOT given up on i'm ghost proof baby! i'll even translate it and adapt it to bts in ptbr so i can post it on wattpad :D dsafçlk~fçlks yeah im gonna dsçalkflks sooooo
> 
> thanks for reading yall, i'll see you really soon <3
> 
> once again, consider buying me a metaphorical coffee: ko-fi.com/playlandi
> 
> and if you wanna talk to me outside of ao3 my social media are:  
> main instagram & main twitter: @playlandi  
> main tumblr and yt channel: @marsisnotcreative  
> les mis tumblr: @whensunscollide  
> my curious cat: @marsyparsy  
> side twitter: @_scenesaw (mainly bts lol)


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith has the gang over. Lance and Keith are in two different crisis.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey yall <3   
> i'm back really soon, huh ldfsçldafjds   
> this chapter KINDA marks around half of the story, so there's that! there's still a bunch of stuff to happen, but the next chapters are going to be longer i suppose? hmmm anyway, our spn journey is around half done
> 
> consider buying me a coffee and supporting my writing and my creative stuff (and also my existence in general) : ko-fi.com/playlandi

As the weeks went by Keith tried his luck in getting to know more about Lance. He realised some topics were still off limits, which was fine. Lance didn’t seem to like disclosing information about his friends, but he was fine talking about his family for most part. Keith found out Lance had started studying astronomy, but had quit university because it wasn’t what he wanted. He also learnt that Lance was really bad at taking compliments and having people do things for him.

He’d found that out when he had taken books from the library home so Lance could keep on reading, the same day Keith learnt that Lance was a very touchy person. Lance hadn’t been materialising so they could spend more time together, but as soon as he saw the books and Keith explained what they were for the room got suddenly _really_ hot and Lance just pulled Keith into the tightest hug Keith had probably ever gotten in his entire life.

“Oh my God, thank you!” Lance had said, repeatedly without letting go of Keith at all. Keith had accepted the hug and put his arms around Lance too; hugging him back and closing his eyes, letting himself feel how Lance felt in his arms.

After that day their relationship had become way more physical within the limits of Lance’s energy. Whenever Lance was materialised, he was either touching Black or touching Keith somehow. Their legs would touch when they were sitting next to each other or their fingers would be intertwined as they talked. Keith even fell asleep holding Lance’s hand one night when he was very tired after work; he had woken up hugging his stuffed hippo and with the lights off and gone back to sleep smiling really wide.

That change in dynamics had done two things for Keith: it killed every doubt he had about whether Lance considered him a friend or not, and made him start doubting his feelings for Lance a little bit. Of course, he pushed those thoughts down as well as he could most of the time.

One particular night Lance was lying down on Keith’s bed, reading a Bukowski book – as pretentious as it seemed, Keith liked something about it -, and Keith was playing _Undertale_. Lance put the book down on his chest and took a deep breath, catching Keith’s attention. Keith paused the game.

“What?” Keith asked and Lance kept staring at the ceiling.

“You stopped bringing your friends over. Like… It’s been a month, I think?” Lance said. “Are you scared I’m going to do something wrong?” Keith frowned and put his computer aside for a second, reaching out to Lance and stopping midway, not knowing whether Lance was materialised or just visible.

“It just didn’t happen again.” Keith said and Lance finally looked at him. “It’s not about you. We have four houses and the café to choose to hang out at, that’s all.” Lance hummed. “Do you like them?” Lance bit his lower lip.

“They’re… nice.” Lance answered. “Whenever they’re over I remember the times I hung out when…” He stopped himself. “I kind of forget I’m not alive when they’re over. Not in a risky way, you know? But… They make me feel like I’m still here, I guess. At least most of the time.”

“You _are_ still here.” Keith said and Lance sat down.

“No, I know…” Lance sighed. “I just mean, like… I don’t know. It’s dumb, I guess.” Keith grabbed his phone and texted the groupchat.

“Done.” Keith said and put his phone aside.

“What?” Lance frowned and Keith smiled lightly.

“I just invited them over next Sunday.” Keith explained and Lance’s eyes widened a little. “Hunk and Pidge will definitely come, they always do when I invite them, and…” Keith stopped talking as soon as he felt Lance’s weight crushing him. “Jesus, Lance.” He laughed and hugged Lance back.

“You’re the best! You’re literally the best person I know!” Lance laughed too and Keith held him closer. “Thank you so much, this was so sweet. You’re the sweetest, Keith, thank you!”

“Lance, you’re crushing me.” Keith said, feeling his back hurt a little. Lance tried getting away, but Keith didn’t let him go. They adjusted their positions, so Lance was sitting on Keith’s lap and could go back to hugging him tight. “I just don’t like seeing you sad, that’s all.”

“Cheesy.” Lance said and chuckled next to Keith’s ear. Too close to it, even. Keith swallowed hard. “You do it too, by the way.”

“What?” Keith asked, trying not to think too hard about how good Lance felt in his arms.

“Make me feel alive.” Lance said and Keith felt his face heating up. “Thanks, mullet.”

“No problems.” Keith answered and loosened up his grip on Lance; Lance took that as a hint and got down from Keith’s lap and lied down on the bed again, picking the book up and going back to reading it, still smiling. Keith got back to his game too, still feeling his heart beating faster than it probably should.

The week went by pretty smoothly and Sunday came pretty fast. The squad was going to go to Keith and Shiro’s and they would eat pizza and watch _Buzzfeed Unsolved_ together, it was a good plan. Even Adam would be there, which was rare since he was always travelling for work. Keith didn’t want to admit, but he hoped Lance was there with them too; visible, materialised. But he wouldn’t tell Lance that. It could upset Lance a little bit and Keith didn’t want that.

Pidge and Matt were the first ones to get there and, as Keith feared, Pidge dropped bombs first thing.

“Hey, Keef.” They punched his arm lightly. “Shiro.” They did the same to Shiro’s leg. “Hi, ghost!” They raised their voice and Shiro rolled his eyes.

“Pi-“ Shiro started talking, but Pidge didn’t let him.

“Sh!” They said. “I wanna hear if it answers me.” They waited, holding one finger up, for about a minute. “Damn…”

“What if it hates you like Black does?” Matt asked and Keith chuckled, getting another punch in response.

“Ha, ha. Verry funny, Matthew.” Pidge rolled their eyes. “Black just doesn’t understand my love for her, that’s all. She doesn’t hate me. I’m un-hateable.”

“Sure thing, gremlin.” Keith said and managed to dodge the next punch.

“Maybe it hates _you_ , have you ever thought about it?” Pidge said and Keith rolled his eyes. Yes, he had once, but he knew now that it wasn’t true. “For your information, it tried communicating with me last time I was here. I think.” Keith frowned for a second. “I was in Keith’s room to get a hoodie and Black entered it and started meowing to his bookshelf and rubbing herself on nothingness. So I assumed: ghost!” Oh, that was Keith’s chance to mess with Pidge without outing the fact that he believed in ghosts.

“Isn’t that a little humiliating, though?” Keith asked and Pidge frowned. “I mean, Black likes the air better than she likes you, pal…”

“Not the air: the ghost, Keef.” Pidge narrowed their eyes.

“Sure, Pidge.” Keith said. “The ‘ghost’.” He made air quotes and hoped that it didn’t upset Lance. “Even if you’re right, it doesn’t seem like the ghost was trying to communicate with you at all.”

“What else would it be there for?” Pidge asked, as if that was obvious. Keith laughed, knowing Lance had probably just been checking his books while Pidge was in the room too.

“You know, you’re not very respectful with this ghost you so claim to believe.” Keith pointed out. “You keep calling the ghost an ‘it’, Pidgeon, isn’t that kind of rude? Like, if ghosts are dead people wouldn’t they have genders and pronouns and all that too?” Pidge’s jaw dropped for a second.

“You’re…” They started. “Right.” They glared at Keith. “Hey, ghost! What are your pronouns?” They shouted and Keith rolled his eyes.

“Okay, Matt and I will be in the kitchen, okay?” Shiro excused himself and Matt followed him.

“Keep shouting, Pidgey, don’t give up!” Matt encouraged Pidge as he left and Shiro just grabbed his hand and walked faster towards the kitchen, closing the door behind them.

“Ghostie!” Pidge tried again. “I’m Pidge, I go by they, them and she, her pronouns. It depends. Mostly they, them, though. What about you?” They kept screaming. Keith sat down on the arm of the couch and kept watching Pidge walk around and scream so Lance would listen. “What if the ghost doesn’t speak English, Keith? What if it’s been dead for centuries and it doesn’t understand the concept of nonbinary genders?”

“It?” Keith asked and Pidge took their hands to their face, squeezing their cheeks together.

“Fucking hell.” They said. “It’s become a habit.” They sighed. “Hey, ghost, please help me out with this. I don’t know… Throw something at Keith if your pronouns are she, her, hers, punch him if your pronouns are he, him, his, and… I don’t know… drop him from the couch if it’s they, them, theirs.” Pidge shouted and got no response, to which Keith was thankful.

“Maybe you should stop talking about the ghost if you don’t know their pronouns…” Keith tried his luck.

“Or maybe I could just play it safe and go with they, them, theirs.” Pidge answered flipping Keith off. “I really wish they had answered, though.”

“I’m sure do.” Keith rolled his eyes and felt something hit his back. Was Lance… Punching him? “But I guess you’ll never know.” He felt it again.

“Maybe they don’t want to answer because you’re here and they hate you.” Pidge said and shrugged. “Since you’re a sceptical fool and all.” A third time. Keith was going to kill Lance. Figuratively speaking, of course.

“I’m a guy of proof, Pidge. If I get proof that ghosts are real, I’ll start believing.” Keith shrugged and got away from the couch before Lance punched him again.

“What proof do you want? Isn’t the door slamming, the footsteps, or even the Ouija board thing proof enough?” Pidge rolled their eyes. “If you need the ghost to go up to you and say ‘hey, hi, I’m the ghost that have been haunting this house for years now, nice to meet you, I am real by the way ha ha’ to believe then you’re never going to! That’s not how ghosts work, Keef!” They said, exasperated. Keith really wanted to burst into laughter because Pidge knew him too well. That was literally what had taken him to believe Lance was a ghost. And that was what had taken him to believe Lance wasn’t a fragment of his imagination. And Pidge clearly knew nothing about ghosts. Keith felt another hit and the doorbell rang.

“Goddamn it!” He and Pidge said at the same time; Pidge to the door and Keith to where he assumed Lance was at.

“I’ll open it.” Pidge said and walked towards the door, clearly startled.

“Stop hitting me, Lance.” Keith whispered, hoping Lance would hear him.

“I’m just telling Pidge my pronouns, pretty boy.” Lance whispered back, _really_ close to Keith’s ear and chuckled. Keith really wanted to punch him back.

“Hello, Keith.” Allura greeted him. She walked towards him and kissed his cheek. Lance punched him again as soon as Allura’s lips weren’t touching him anymore.

“Keith, my boy, hello!” Coran walked towards him and hugged him tight. Keith hugged Coran back for a second and then let go. Coran took a few more seconds to let go, though.

Coran pulled Pidge into a conversation about the last encounter he had had with Margaret, the crazy flower-cat lady who hated Coran for no reason at all. Allura leaned into the couch, half sitting on it.

“I never got to thank you for defending me the other day, Keith.” Allura started talking and smiled softly. “Thank you.”

“It’s okay, ‘Lura, don’t worry.” Keith crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I’ve got your back.” Allura sighed. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just…” She was still smiling, but she looked sad. “It’s been a while since someone said that to me, that’s all. And I haven’t talked to this friend of mine for a long time…”

“Oh… I’m sorry.” Keith said.

“It’s fine. I just miss him, that is all.” She chuckled lightly.

“Can’t you try reaching out to him? I know it seems weird sometimes… To reach out to someone when it’s been a while, but…” Keith tried and Allura chuckled again.

“It’s not that simple, I’m afraid.” She took a deep breath. “He’s not… exactly around.”

“Oh.” Keith said and uncrossed his arms, carefully touching Allura’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Allura.”

“It’s really okay.” She said and looked up at him. “Would you mind a hug?” Keith smiled softly at her and opened his arms wide. Allura stood up straight and wrapped her arms around Keith’s body, holding him tight for a while.

Someone hit the light switch and both Keith and Allura jumped a little bit, startled, and started laughing loudly afterwards, when the light was on again.

“I love queer solidarity! Yes!” Matt said, cheering. “Who’s going to be solidary with this pansexual babe, huh?” He looked at Pidge. “Come here, Pidgeon.” Matt opened his arms and started going for a hug, but Pidge ran and jumped on Keith.

“Hell not, get out.” They said and showed him their tongue. “You’re too touchy today, go hug Shiro instead.” Matt pouted for a second and then started laughing.

“Come here, boy, I can give you a hug!” Coran said and pulled Matt into a hug. Matt held him tight back. Allura chuckled lightly and Keith looked at her; she seemed way happier.

“Yall are freaks.” Pidge said, clinging onto Keith.

“Says the koala stuck to my leg.” Keith answered and Pidge elbowed him.

“I’m stuck to your _waist_ , big foot.” Pidge defended their honour and let go of Keith. Keith chuckled and ruffled their hair. The doorbell rang and Shiro opened the door to Hunk.

Once they were all there, they decided what pizza flavours they would ask for and turned on the TV to put _Buzzfeed_ _Unsolved_ on since season one. After some discussion, and a lot of arguing from Pidge’s side, they decided to only watch the supernatural seasons. Hunk was the least excited for that, but he agreed on it – mostly because he and Coran were the only ones who voted for the true crime seasons instead.

The pizza got there after the end of the second episode and the doorbell startled everyone but Shiro. Keith tried to play it cool, but he noticed that Allura had noticed. Thankfully, she was a sweetheart and didn’t tell on him. They ate while watching the next three episodes. As they watched the Bigfoot one, Pidge pointed out that Keith was very Shane and Keith just laughed it away.

He felt a cold breeze going past them and he knew Lance was there. He just did.

The windows and doors were all closed as far as he could remember. A warm breeze pasted them and Keith was absolutely sure Lance was there. He felt something in his hair and froze in place for a bit, but then whatever it was – Lance, he assumed – started scratching his scalp and play with his hair, so he leaned back as if to tell Lance to keep going. That felt really good.

Was it healthy for Keith’s confused feelings? Probably not. Did it mean he’d ask Lance to stop? Not even if everyone knew Lance was there. Lance stopped when the episode ended and Coran stood up, telling everyone he had to get going because he still had things to do before Monday. Matt and Pidge agreed and also left. Hunk and Allura stayed to help with the dishes and putting things in place.

They were talking about whether or not Hunk had liked the show and for some reason the conversation turned into talking about feelings. Shiro mentioned how things with Adam were better, but still kind of weird and it triggered Hunk into talking about his situation with Pidge.

“And I really like them, as everyone knows.” Hunk sighed. “But whenever I try talking about it with them they just… change subjects all of a sudden and never let me finish, you know…” Hunk sighed again. Keith didn’t know how far he could go with the talking since he knew Pidge too well, so he just kept washing the dishes and handing them to Allura so she could get them dry. “It makes me think that maybe they don’t have feelings for me?”

“Oh, they do.” Allura said. “Pidge is probably just scared of trying something and ruining your friendship. And I understand them…”

“It’s not the same, Lura.” Hunk said. “If Pidge really does like me back it’s not the same.” Allura nodded. “Should I try and… talk to them again? Keith, you know them better than anyone, what do you think?”

“I…” Keith hesitated. “Pidge is going to kill me, so you didn’t hear anything from me, but they’re terrified. I think you should insist I talking things out because if you leave it in their hands, they’ll never do anything about it.” He tried looking at Hunk from over his shoulder, but didn’t manage. “Heart stuff is complicated enough when you’re allosexual, right? When you’re in the ace spectrum everything just gets way harder because you’re constantly scared of what the other person might want or need.” Keith got back to looking at the dishes as he rinsed the plate in his hand. “It took Pidge a while to deal with their feelings and now having to deal with the possibility of actin on them is even scarier, so… You should insist because I know you’re a great guy and will treat my best friend right.”

“That is so wise, Keith.” Allura said, smiling. Keith felt himself blushing.

“Thanks, bud! Will do!” Hunk said and Keith just nodded. “What about you, Lura? Weren’t you seeing someone?”

“Oh… Yes.” Allura said and giggled. “I am, actually.” Keith handed her a fork and she dropped it when a door slammed upstairs. “Sorry!” She said and quickly kneeled to pick it up. Keith just nodded. “Things are actually getting quite serious between us two. I… wasn’t ready to try a relationship before, but maybe now…” She gave Keith the fork back. “Maybe now I might. I really like him, even though Coran is strongly against us being together.”

“Why?” Shiro asked and leaned on the counter, waiting for the next item Allura would hand to him so he could put in place.

“Lotor’s father and my father were best friends at some point, but Lotor’s father tricked my father and stole some ideas for special drinks and opened a restaurant himself called Daibazaal. Coran holds some grudge against Lotor for it, even though both our parents are… Long gone.” She explained.

“Oh… Lotor?” Hunk asked and hummed. “I never thought you would give him a chance…”

“We started talking after…” Allura stopped herself. “We started talking some time ago and it took me about a year, but I started contemplating giving him a chance and then I actually started having feelings for him. It wasn’t until five months ago that we actually went on our first date, though.” She explained. “Lotor is actually really sweet. He’s been through a lot with his family, Hunk, he has suffered with his parents. But he’s been going to therapy, so he’s changed a lot. He is learning how to process his emotions and we talk a lot.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re happy, princess.” Hunk said and Allura froze in place for a second, but smiled and kept drying the fork Keith had handed her last.

“I guess today’s the day of people reminding me of things that haven’t happened in a while.” She chuckled softly. “It’s been a long time since anyone’s called me by that nickname.”

“Sorry, Lura.” Hunk said. Keith finally washed the last knife and handed it to Allura, so he managed to turn around and actually have all other three people in the kitchen in his sight. Hunk had his brows furrowed, but Allura was smiling softly. “What about you, Keith? Any romantic interest in sight?”

“Oh…” Keith said when all three set of eyes turned to face him. “I… don’t know?” He admitted.

“Oh, juicy Keith gossip, I love that.” Shiro said ad Keith glared at him. “Come on, you don’t tell me anything. Who is he?”

“No one. You know what? Forget what I said.” Keith rolled his eyes.

“Keith is in denial, how adorable!” Allura said and giggled. Keith glared at her. “Tell us more about this mystery boy, Keith!”

“I don’t know. I just...” Keith sighed. “He makes me feel stuff I’ve never felt before, but… We could never work out.”

“Why not?” Hunk asked, sounding disappointed.

“It’s… Complicated. We don’t belong to the same… World, I guess?” Keith said and wondered if Lance was hearing that conversation. “And it’s not that I like him. I’m just… in awe of his existence, I suppose?” Did that make things too explicit for Lance? Keith hoped not.

“When did you become so poetic, brother?” Shiro asked, chuckling. “Maybe just tell him how you feel.”

“I’d rather stop this conversation altogether.” Keith said. “I don’t like talking about this when it’s me we’re talking about.” Allura and Hunk chuckled too and Keith rolled his eyes.

“No need to blush, Keith, it’s fine. We can change subjects.” Allura said and pinched his cheek. Keith wanted to hide forever.

“Actually, I think I should go. It’s getting late.” Hunk said and groaned. “And I have a seminar tomorrow about electrics and I really want to die right now.”

“Oh, yeah, I think it’s my queue then.” Allura said. “Thank you for having us, boys.”

“You’re always welcome.” Shiro said. The four of them started walking to the front door. Hunk hugged everyone goodbye and left to his house. Allura said goodbye to Shiro and Shiro entered the house again to make himself and Keith some tea.

“Thank you, Keith.” Allura hugged him tight. “For what you said earlier today.”

“No problems.” Keith said and hugged her back.

“And don’t be scared of letting yourself fall for this boy of yours. If his existence awes you then I assume he must be a great person.” She said and let him go. Allura was smiling, so Keith did the same.

“He really is.” He admitted. Allura chuckled, said goodbye and got up on the bike, riding away. Keith watched her until she vanished after rounding a corner.

Keith closed the door and took a deep breath. Of course he was scared of falling for Lance. Not because Lance wasn’t great. He was. But because Lance wasn’t alive. They could never be together. It didn’t matter; he wouldn’t let himself fall too deep. He was in control.

Shiro met him on the stairs and just laughed, handed him a mug of chamomile tea and shook his head. Which Keith knew meant ‘you’re in too deep, kid’. Shiro was wrong. Shiro was wrong. He was. He had to be.

He entered his room to leave the mug on his bedside table; Black followed him and lied down on his bed. Keith went to the bathroom to pee and brush his teeth and then back to his room. He hadn’t taken his pyjamas with him, so he had to change in the bedroom.

Keith considered going back to change, but he realised Lance had seen him naked in the shower, so who cared if he changed into his pyjamas this one time inside his own room right? So he did it. Once he was wearing shorts and a t-shirt he sat down on his bed and started sipping his tea.

“You’re an asshole.” Keith said, hoping Lance was there to listen. He was; sitting on his bed, not as close to Keith as usual, but still there, Keith found out once Lance made himself visible.

“I’m an asshole?” Lance said, taking his hands to his chest, faking offense. “How _dare_ you? I was simply answering your friend’s question. What do you take me for? A rude spirit? No sir, I am a polite ghost. You’re the asshole, who says ‘hey, privacy, I want privacy’, but goes and walks around _my_ room _half naked_ , sweetie.”

“Shut up, Lance.” Keith rolled his eyes and chuckled. “Had fun?” Lance hummed and hugged his knees to his chest. “What’s wrong?”

“I…” Lance started, but stopped. He looked at Keith and smiled the fakest smile Keith had ever seen him smile. “It’s nothing. I had fun. Thanks, Keith.”

“No.” Keith said and got closer to Lance. Lance didn’t move, but Keith didn’t risk touching him and having his hand go right through Lance. “Tell me, what’s wrong? Did I do something wrong?”

“No, you…” Lance sighed. “You did something great for me because I asked you to, but… I’m not part of the group. I’m…” Lance chuckled, but he looked really sad. “I’m dead, Keith. I’ll always be dead. I… don’t fit in anymore.” Keith frowned. He didn’t know what to say, so his own mouth hung open but he didn’t say anything. Lance wasn’t absolutely wrong. But maybe if they knew he was there… Maybe they could include Lance in their hang outs. Would that be too crazy?

Maybe it would. Lance was a ghost after all. And maybe helping him fit in wouldn’t be productive in making him move on. And no matter how much Keith hated the fact that Lance had to move on at some point, he knew he had to.

“I’m sorry.” Keith said after a while. “I know there’s nothing I can do to help or to make that feeling go away. And I’m sorry that having them over made you feel like that. I thought it would make you feel better.”

“It’s okay.” Lance said and his smiled seemed more genuine. “I know you meant well. That’s why I wasn’t going to say anything.”

“I’m glad you did, though.” Keith admitted. “You… Keep a lot to yourself and I try not to pressure you into talking, but…”

“It’s a habit. I haven’t had people to talk to for years, so I’m not used to this whole…” Lance hesitated. “Friendship thing anymore.” He shrugged. “The last person I talked to was the kid who lived here. Have I told you that story?”

“Tell me.” Keith said and Lance let go of his knees, sitting closer to Keith.

“So, her stepdad was a piece of shit _and_ there was that resentful spirit I told you about, right? And she was the sweetest little thing, honestly. I spent most of my time trying to make the evil spirit to go away or to keep him from scaring or hurting her and her mother. I thought the best way to do that was to appear to her and tell her I was protecting her.” Lance started talking; Keith listened closely to the story. “So I showed up one night and I kinda lied to her in a way, but not really. I told her my name and that I was here to protect her, which is a half-truth, you know? Because I was here and I was protecting her, so…” He chuckled. “We bonded and we talked almost every night. She used to ask me to ask God to make the bad man go away, meaning her stepfather.” Lance sighed. “But at first he was just an asshole, so I’d keep an eye out for any possible changes in his behaviour, if you know what I mean. So if he was fighting with her mother, I’d break glasses or whatever and they’d get spooked and stop fighting.” Lance paused for a second. “Until one day… I wasn’t paying attention… I was chilling and when I heard the shouting it was too late and he had hit her mother. She saw it happening and I wasn’t there… So just… appeared out of thin air and he freaked out because, hey, ghost, right?” He scratched the back of his head. “And I basically told him if he _ever_ touched any of them again the blow back would be three times as hard because I wasn’t to be messed with. Turns out that spooked not only him but also her mother away…”

“Oh…” Keith said, accidentally, and Lance shrugged.

“They moved away, but I know they got divorced, so it’s fine. I just wanted Sasha to be fine and she was.” Lance admitted. “I’d rather be doomed to be all alone than let a little girl get hurt, you know?”

“You’re not, though.” Keith said and Lance looked into his eyes, frowning a little bit. “You’ve got me now.” Lance hummed, still frowning.

“What if I am after I move on?” Lance asked and Keith shook his head. “We don’t know what happens then.”

“You won’t. You’ll always have me. And if you don’t, you’ll always have someone.” Keith was absolutely sure of that. “That’s the thing with good people: they always have someone around. And you, Lance, are an amazing person.”

“Was.” Lance corrected him. “And I’m not sure I was, Keith… You… Don’t know who I was before this.”

“I don’t need to. I just know it.” Keith said and shrugged. “I’m sure of it.” Lance smiled at him.

“Thanks, mullet.” Lance said. Keith nodded. “You should probably go to sleep, you work tomorrow.” Keith shrugged. “Thank you for everything today.” Lance stood up.

“Hey, Lance.” Keith called as soon as Lance started vanishing. Lance stopped and looked into Keith’s eyes. Keith gulped all of his tea down and rested the mug on the bedside table again. “Can you… stay until I fall asleep?” Lance frowned for a second.

“Yeah.” Keith lied down on the bed, next to the wall. Lance hit the lights and lied down beside Keith, materialising himself. “Want me to run my fingers through your hair? You seemed to have liked that earlier tonight.” Lance offered. Keith chuckled.

“I’d like that.” He answered and turned his back to Lance. “How did you do that earlier tonight anyway?”

“A magician never reveals his tricks, pretty boy.” Lance answered and Keith elbowed him. “No hitting or I’ll stop.”

“Fine.” Keith said and yawned. “But next time I’m decking you.”

“I’d like to see you try, mullet.” Lance answered, chuckling. Keith just hummed and closed his eyes, taking in the feeling of Lance touching his hair. He was definitely doomed, but it was worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, so i'm going to be real with you all. it's been quite hard to write lately.  
> life's been insane and a mess and i'm having crisis after crisis, but, hey, i'll be fine. i'm on antidepressants again and hopefully they'll work out this time around. i'm taking two of them which is,,, a lot.... idk man, life's shit sometimes but we gotta just go through it, right?
> 
> bad news is i'm having a fuckton of financial problems, which means that if yall wanna support me through my ko-fi so i can keep buying my meds and paying for my psychiatrist that would be a+ çldsakçldfsksd it's not even a matter of being able to keep writing anymore it's a matter of managing to stay alive so there's that.....
> 
> anyway, i'll be back with a brand new chap in a week or so <3 thanks yall for reading
> 
> so, once again, consider buying me a metaphorical coffee: ko-fi.com/playlandi
> 
> and if you wanna talk to me outside of ao3 my social media are:  
> main instagram & main twitter: @playlandi  
> main tumblr and yt channel: @marsisnotcreative  
> les mis tumblr: @whensunscollide  
> my curious cat: @marsyparsy  
> side twitter: @_scenesaw (mainly bts lol)


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The squads' secrets keep coming up but are never revealed; Keith doesn't ask, he's patient enough with his friends. Keith gifts Lance something and Lance tells Keith something important.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yo yo yo two chapters in proper time??w wow marsy noice noice ma dudester   
> anway (: hope u like it!
> 
> consider buying me a coffee and supporting my writing and my creative stuff (and also my existence in general) : ko-fi.com/playlandi

“Two double expressos on table seven, Keith!” Allura shouted from behind the counter. “And I’ll be right back!”

“’Kay!” Keith answered and started getting the espressos ready. They were easy, so Keith could manage them.

It was a particularly calm day at Altea, which meant Allura would go very few times to the kitchen to do nothing other than punch the punching bag they kept back there. Allura could be terrifying; Keith had concluded that from the beginning. The costumers had no idea because she was always so polite and diplomatic; it was actually incredible and made her even more intimidating.

He finished the espressos, took them to the right table and then excused himself to stay behind the counter, watching the costumers and waiting for someone to call him back or to want to pay. Altea had seven tables, four tables for four people, three tables for two people, and eight stools at the counter. They had two more tables being kept in the deposit and a bunch of chairs, but they rarely had to get them out.

Keith had been working at Altea for a few months already and he had gotten in little to no trouble, which was great, but he had had to get Allura out of trouble a couple of times, which was bad. Getting Allura out of trouble usually meant someone trying to hit him somehow. Getting Coran out of trouble, though, was fun. Because Coran never got in trouble with costumers, only with machines or new types of drinks he’d been inventing in the kitchen. Keith was grateful for Coran existing because whenever he was around things got at least thirty times funnier.

Of course, sometimes Coran’s nonsense got on Keith’s nerves, but he managed to remind himself Coran was an honest mess and then everything was magically fine again.

“Sorry, I had to get a call.” Allura explained when she was back to the counter.

“Don’t worry.” Keith rested his elbows on the top of the counter and his head on his hands. Allura smiled at him.

“Did you think about what I told you last time I was at your house?” Allura asked. Keith frowned for a second, trying to remember what Allura was talking about. “About falling for that boy.”

“Oh… Yeah…” Keith swallowed hard. “Not possible.”

“Why not?” Allura pouted and did the same Keith was doing.

“It’s complicated. It’s not a possible romance or anything, so it isn’t worth it.” He explained. “It’s like… we’re in completely different planes of existence, you know? And I would never be able to introduce him to you guys or go out on dates with him… So…”

“Oh, is he living somewhere else?” Allura asked, genuinely interested. Keith didn’t want to lie to her, but…

“Yeah…” Technically he wasn’t lying. He did live somewhere else. He lived wherever ghosts lived.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Keith.” Allura said and sighed. “But it doesn’t seem very healthy to deny that you have feelings for him.”

“I know. But I can’t tell him and risk ruining the friendship we have.” Keith said and sighed. “I have the feeling it’s already very fragile and… I don’t wanna be the one to ruin, it.” Allura hummed.

“You’re a great person, Keith.” Allura said. Keith jokingly elbowed her. “I mean it. And whoever you fall for should be too.”

“He is.” Keith admitted. “He tried helping people a lot and he keeps things to himself because he doesn’t want to hurt me, but he opens up when he notices it’s making me anxious. He’s awful at taking compliments and he gets all happy and giddy when I do something for him.” Keith chuckled. “And he’s always flirty, but when I say nice things to him he gets embarrassed, it’s endearing.” Allura chuckled.

“Sounds a lot like a friend of mine.” Allura smiled at Keith. “You two would get on well, I think. At least if you got past his jealousy for me.” She giggled. “He’s super over protective of me, it is very sweet.”

“You should introduce us.” Keith said and Allura’s smile got faint.

“Yeah… I hope one day I manage to.” She said and stood up, stretching. Keith didn’t know what she’d meant, but he decided not to keep that subject going. Allura was a secretive person in many levels. And there were lots of things Keith still didn’t understand about his friends’ dynamic.

No one had explained to him who the mystery number in the groupchat was, or what had happened to Hunk’s old roommate and why Allura got weird when they talked about him. Allura mentioned a friend who wasn’t exactly around anymore to Keith when she was at his house and Hunk was weird with her when they were talking about dating and giving people chances, but Keith knew better than to ask. They would talk when they felt like it.

Even though Keith didn’t think about those things often, it didn’t mean they had forgotten about them. He hardly ever forgot about stuff. That was great, but could also be pretty inconvenient.

Allura was telling Keith about Lotor, the guy she was seeing, and how much he had grown over the years and how proud she was of him and Keith thought it was endearing. He hoped one day he managed to have something like that too. But he doubted it would happen; Keith had the habit of falling for the wrong people.

He’d fallen for a guy named James Griffin at high school, who had too much internalised homophobia for they fling to work out. James had been kind of a dick to Keith, which Keith had forgiven after some time because eventually he understood James wasn’t ready for being out yet. Then he’d had a relationship with a guy named Raht, who he’d met online. He thought he liked the guy, but he really didn’t and the dude was a grade A asshole.

And now Lance. Who was quite literally dead.

Keith remembered reading The Mediator and thinking that the love story between the medium and the ghost was weird and there he was, falling for a dead guy. Way to go, Keith Kogane.

Allura was still talking about Lotor when Pidge entered the café with Hunk. Holding hands. Allura giggled and Keith raised one eyebrow, crossing his arms in front of his chest and grinning.

“Shut up, big foot.” Pidge said and sat down on one of the stools.

“I’m just happy _someone_ listened to me.” Keith said and shrugged. Hunk chuckled, sat down on a different stool and kissed Pidge’s cheek. “Congratulation on finally getting your shit together.”

“Congratulations on still being the only one single in our squad.” Pidge adjusted their glasses and grinned too. “Coran doesn’t count because he’s aromantic.”

“Watch me not give a single fuck, gremlin.” Keith said and ruffled their hair and they pretended to try biting Keith’s hand.

“Two drinks on the house for the love birds!” Allura said, animatedly. “The usual?” Pidge nodded.

“Thanks, Allura!” Hunk smiled wide at her. She went to the kitchen to make them their drinks. “And thanks, Keith.”

“Not a problem. Anything for my friends.” Keith said. “And for Pidge to stop complaining about how you’ll never like them back.”

“Shut up!” Pidge shrieked and Keith laughed loudly when a few costumers stared, startled, at Pidge. “So, single pringle, how does it feel to know I got my shit together before you did?”

“It’d be humiliating if I wasn’t so happy for you two.” Keith said and Pidge laughed loudly. “Actually, no. I’m a mess, Pidge, you _know_ that.”

“Yeah, I do.” They agreed. “Has Keith ever told you about the time he went to a gay bar when he was seventeen and he didn’t have a fake ID, so they didn’t let them in?” They asked Hunk. Hunk frowned and shook his head.

“But I found some guy on the street who was cute and I was decided to hook up with him, so I started flirting and he was flirting back. That made me think I had a chance.” Keith shook his head. “I was a fool.”

“The guy was drunk out of his mind, so when he leaned to kiss Keith he firstly called him a _pretty girl_ and then proceeded to vomit right at his feet.” Pidge completed the story, laughing. Keith laughed too and Hunk chuckled, making a disgusted noise.

“At least it was on my feet, not in my mouth.” Keith said and wiped a tear that had formed in his eye. “I think about that time every time I see a cute guy who seems to be drunk.”

“Living and learning, Keefer.” Pidge said and Keith nodded.

“I guess some bad things do come for the best?” Hunk said and Keith chuckled. “Sounds like a gross moment, though.”

“It was.” Keith agreed. Allura got back and handed them their drinks.

“Keith, something came up and we won’t open tomorrow.” Allura said, grimly. “You can take Saturday and Sunday off.”

“Is everything okay?” Keith asked, worried. Allura nodded “If you need any help…”

“It’s fine. It’s just… Coran and I do this every year and I had forgotten about it.” She explained, without actually explaining anything. Keith just nodded. “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need anything.” Allura excused herself and left.

Keith didn’t say anything; he just went back to watching people around so he would know when he was needed. Allura was secretive, nothing new.

Pidge and Hunk started talking about how whatever it was, wasn’t healthy, so Keith stopped paying attention. Whatever they were talking about, Keith wouldn’t understand. There were pieces missing and Keith didn’t want to assume things; he’d wait until someone told him what the heck was going on. No matter how curious he was.

The subject eventually changed into Pidge and Hunk discussing about Allura and Lotor, which was something Keith paid a little bit of attention to. Apparently they didn’t like Lotor. Hunk didn’t trust him, but had decided that if Allura gave him a second chance he probably deserved it.

Pidge explained to Keith that they had been childhood friends, even after Lotor’s father fucking Allura’s father over, but when they were teenagers, Lotor had become quite a fuckboy and had treated Allura poorly. So no one liked Lotor. Some disliked him less than others; Matt was the one who disliked him the least, but he still didn’t like Lotor at all. Coran was nearly the one who disliked him the most, but they didn’t mention who was the one person who officially disliked Lotor the most. Keith didn’t ask.

But he listened. He always did.

At some point he had to leave because a group of people wanted to pay and when he got back to the conversation, they were talking about Animal Crossing. That was a subject Keith could take part in, so he did. The three of them kept talking for a long time. Keith had, occasionally, to excuse himself to actually do his job, and when he got back his friends were talking about something completely different.

They closed the café three hours before the actual closing time, which, apparently, was part of whatever annual ritual Allura and Coran did. Keith didn’t question them. Hunk took Pidge home and Keith went to the library, he had to turn some books in and get more books for Lance.

He walked through the shelves, wondering what books he should take Lance next. After some walking he decided to take one of his favourites that he’d, unfortunately, lost at some point when they were packing up to move, and the first one from the Maze Runner series. Lance seemed to like all types of books, so he decided for two different types. He wanted to give Lance options. As he was searching for the books he changed his mind, so he got the first one from the series and went to a book store so he could actually buy two copies of his favourite book; one for him, to replace the one he’d lost, and one for Lance.

On his way home he considered taking some ice cream with him, but Lance didn’t eat, so it would probably be a bad idea. He didn’t want to risk making Lance get upset or anything. But he made a mental note to stop at the ice cream shop and try some ‘chocomint’ ice cream himself, which Lance had said to be his favourite flavour.

When Keith got home he heard shouting and sighed, recognising Adam’s voice. He slowly approached the kitchen to figure out what they were arguing about.

“I can’t help, it, Takashi! It’s my _job_!” Adam said; more like shouted.

“So when it’s _your_ job it’s fine, but when it was mine it wasn’t? How is that fair, Adam?” Shiro shouted back.

“Your job could cost your life, Takashi, that’s how!” By the way Adam’s voice faltered Keith figured they had been fighting for a while. “My job won’t. And it helps people.”

“I used to help people too.” Shiro answered, noticeably hurt. “You could never understand it and now you want me to be fine with your absence in the blink of an eye? How is that fair, Adam?”

“Stop comparing our situations, they’re nothing alike.” Adam – probably – slammed his – probably – hand on something, which made Keith jump. That was new. Should he enter the kitchen and make them stop fighting? “You could have _died_ , Takashi. I could’ve lost you forever!”

“But you didn’t!” Shiro said in a way Keith knew meant he was near his crying point. “I came back, I’m here now.”

“Not all of you did.” Adam said. Another loud bang. Too loud. It sounded like metal on wood. Shiro. Keith swallowed loudly.

“If that’s such a big problem for you, Adam, maybe you should just leave what’s left of me.” Shiro said; his voice faltered. He was crying. Keith hadn’t seen Shiro actually cry ever since their parents had passed. He couldn’t deal with Shiro crying.

“Takashi…” Adam’s voice was lower.

“I came back. I’m here. All of me. Arm or no arm, this is me, this is who I’ve always been. If that’s not enough of me for you I don’t think we should be together anymore.” Shiro said. “I’m so tired of this, Adam. I’m doing my best to maintain this relationship. I’m doing everything I can, but it can’t all be me.”

“You can’t ask me to sacrifice my job, Takashi. I’m helping people.” Adam answered.

“You asked me to sacrifice mine.” Shiro responded; voice louder.

“And you didn’t.” Adam said. Another loud bang, followed by the sound of doors slamming. “What was that?” Adam asked.

“Doesn’t matter. Probably the wind.” Shiro said, still loudly; Keith could hear his voice trembling. “I didn’t sacrifice my job and look what it did to us.” Shiro took a deep breath. “I thought we were making progress, Adam, I really did. But you keep bringing the accident back. I was the one who lost something, not you. You don’t get to grieve whatever you think got left behind because I’m still the same.”

“You don’t get to tell me what I get or not to grieve.” Adam answered. One more bang, this time followed by the sound of glass breaking. That was it, Keith was going in. “Oh my, God, what was that?” Adam asked, almost whispering. Shiro shushed him. “What if someone’s breaking in?”

“It’s okay. We keep a gun in the studies room, come here.” Shiro answered. Keith heard footsteps and decided to enter the kitchen before they caught him eavesdropping.

“Hey, guys.” Keith said, as if he had no idea what had been happening. Shiro was hugging Adam close to him. “I just got home and I heard glass shattering?”

“So did we.” Adam answered, holding Shiro very close to him. Keith sighed; he really hoped those two got their shit together. Adam clearly loved Shiro, they just had to work through their past. “Did you see anything weird when you got here?” Keith shook his head, examining the kitchen floor. Nothing seemed to be broken there.

“We were going to get the gun.” Shiro said. “Maybe we should, just to be safe?” Adam nodded.

“I’m going upstairs.” Keith announced.

“Wait, Keith, it could be dangerous.” Adam said. “What if they’re upstairs?”

“I’ll be careful, don’t worry.” Keith answered and went to his bathroom, so he could brush his teeth. He had a hunch whatever had broken, had been wither Lance’s or Black’s fault somehow.

So he didn’t rush. He wasn’t anxious to know what had been broken, anyway. He was just glad Adam and Shiro had stopped fighting. Keith used the toilet, took a shower, wrapped the towel around his waist and brushed his teeth. Midway through the shower he had heard Shiro and Adam commenting on how weird it was that the noise seemed not to have come from anywhere. He also heard the attic door open and close a while later and assumed it had been Shiro, making sure no one was hiding up there.

Once he was done with his hygiene routine, he went back to his room to get his pyjamas and his underwear so he could get dressed in the bathroom. As soon as he entered the room he saw Black floating and sighed.

“I owe you a new lava lamp.” Lance’s voice said from the spot Black was floating. Keith sighed again, got his clothes and marched to the bathroom, where he got dressed.

He, then, proceeded to go downstairs and grab stuff so he could clean whatever mess Lance had made in his room. He grabbed plastic bags, an entire roll of paper towels and cleaning supplies and went back to his room.

Keith could hear crying coming from Shiro’s room and low, whispering voices saying ‘I’m sorry’s. For a second he was honestly grateful for being single.

“What did you do?” Keith asked as soon as his door was closed. Lance appeared in front of him, which made the vision of Black being held by someone rather than just floating around way better.

“You know how I told you I’m all energy, right?” Lance said and Keith nodded, kneeling down so he could clean Lance’s mess. “Let me do this.” Lance tried getting the paper towels from Keith, who slapped his hand away.

“You’ve done enough ghost stuff for one night.” Keith said, clearly upset. He took a deep breath and rephrased it. “You’ll have to materialise and that gets you worn out. Let me do this, it’s no big deal.” Lance nodded. “So, what happened?”

“Oh, yeah. So, energy, right?” Lance continued; Keith hummed, using the paper towels to grab the glass safely and wrapping the pieces with the paper before putting them into the plastic bag, so they didn’t hurt anyone. “Energy is a funny thing because it can suffer influence from other energies, right? So, like, say someone’s _really_ horny, that would probably have some influence over me as a being. Now, put two really horny people in a room with me, that’ll definitely have some impact on me. Same thing with all emotions. Because they happen differently, they… vibrate differently, I guess? Technical terms, I don’t know. But it’s like a different frequency altogether.” Lance tried explaining. “So, sometimes, if you put two people that are very angry and very hurt and have a lot of resentment towards each other next to me it might have impact on me. Especially if I’m already not having a very good day. So that might have happened and I might have gotten out of control and started thinking about how to stop the fight before anyone did anything stupid and then I realised…” Lance sighed. “Energy influences energy, so I was… probably influencing the fight too?”

“What do you mean?” Keith frowned.

“I mean… I think it wouldn’t have escalated so much if I wasn’t around? Because… People are and have energy too, but I’m _all_ energy. So I think my intense moods might influence your moods way more than the other way around?” Lance scratched the back of his head with his free hand. Black meowed at him. “And then I absolutely freaked out because I started thinking that if something went south it would’ve been my fault and… I left the kitchen and came into the room too quickly and I might’ve let out too much energy in the process and knocked off your lava lamp in the process?”

“What about the door slamming?” Keith asked.

“That was conscious. It was me trying to warn them you were home…” Lance admitted. “Sorry, I… Didn’t want you to hear them fighting.” Keith stopped to look up at Lance for a second. Lance seemed honestly sorry. Embarrassed, even. Keith sighed.

“You don’t have to protect me, you know?” Keith said and got back to cleaning. “I’m not a kid and they’re not my parents.” He continued. “And neither Adam or Shiro are assholes or abusive.”

“I know, I know.” Lance’s voice was a bit lower. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Keith answered and sighed. “We have an agreement, so I know you didn’t do it on purpose. The breaking the lamp, I mean.” Keith finished putting all pieces in the plastic bag and started cleaning the floor, which was very sticky.

“How can I make it up to you?” Lance’s tone made Keith look up at him and smile kindly.

“Next time I’m lazy and ask you for a tea you bring it to me and we’re even.” Keith said and Lance chuckled, nodding. “Great. Now sit with Black on the bed until I’m done, I have something for you.”

“Two gifts in a night? What did I do to deserve that?” Lance asked, floating towards the bed. Keith frowned. “You let me see you half naked earlier. I consider it a blessing.”

“Shut up, Lance.” Keith said looking straight to the floor and feeling his face heat up. Lance laughed loudly. “Seriously, shut up, they’ll hear you.” Lance tried holding back his laughter, but it only turned into a chuckle. “You’re an idiot.” Lance shrugged, still smiling widely. Keith rolled his eyes.

“What happened to keeping the nakedness to the bathroom, Keithy boy?” Lance asked, provoking him.

“Are you really that sad you can’t peek anymore, Lance?” Keith asked. Two could play that game. Lance fell silent for a little bit. “Oh my, God, you are, aren’t you? I knew you were a perv.”

“Shut up, that’s not it.” Lance said and hit Keith’s head with Keith’s pillow.

“That’s totally it. You loved seeing me shower, didn’t you? Jesus, Lance, get your shit together. Watch some porn or something.” Keith said and Lance hit him again. “I’m going to murder you.”

“Can’t, already dead remember?” Lance said and Keith looked up, worried. But Lance was smiling. “Aw, he’s worried about my feelings, how cute.”

“I read somewhere that when you burn someone’s body their spirit stops existing. Maybe that would be a fun field trip.” Keith glared at Lance, who laughed in response.

“Good luck with finding my body, beautiful.” Lance hit Keith again, who stood up and tried smacking Lance’s face, but Lance wasn’t materialised, so Keith’s hand went straight through him.

“That’s cheating.” Keith complained.

“Alas, the bisexual latino is actually the privileged one.” Lance answered, making Keith roll his eyes, smiling. “Finish the cleaning, I want my gift!” Keith rolled his eyes again, but did it anyway. He was actually kind of anxious to know what Lance would think of the gift.

Keith finished up the cleaning really quick and put everything aside, going to his bag and grabbing it to take it near the bed. He sat down and Lance got closer to him.

“Close your eyes.” Keith asked and Lance did it right away. He grabbed the three books from the bag and put them behind him. “Ok, open them up.” Lance obeyed right away. Keith could swear Lance’s eyes were shining brighter than the usual. In times like that it was easy to forget Lance wasn’t alive. He looked like it. He looked alive and happy there, sitting in front of Keith. But he wasn’t. Keith shook that though away. “This is from the library.” He gave Lance the first book of the Maze Runner series.

“Oh, dang, I really wanted to read that! But I never got to because…” He pointed at himself. “You know.”

“Pretty boys aren’t allowed to read?” Keith asked and Lance smacked him with the book, lightly. “Stop hitting me, Lance.”

“Stop being an idiot, Keith.” Lance answered, giggling. Keith loved when Lance did that. “Thank you, mi vida.” Lance said. That wasn’t the first time Lance had spoken in Spanish with Keith, but it was the first time he’d done it to refer to Keith. Something about it made Keith’s heart melt.

“Did you just call me ‘my life’?” Keith asked and Lance hit him again. “Stop it, Lance!”

“I just thought it was fitting since, you know, you’re alive and I’m dead?” Lance said and refrained from looking at Keith. “It’s not a big deal.” Keith smiled wide, but didn’t continue teasing Lance. “Thanks for the book.”

“That’s not the gift.” Keith said. Lance looked at him, frowning. “ _This_ is the gift.” He handed Lance a copy of Les Miserables. “This is my favourite book. Or one of my favourites, at least.” Keith felt himself start to blush. “I lost my copy when we were moving, so I bought myself a new one…” He took the other copy from behind him. “Which means that one is yours.”

“You…” Lance fell silent for a while. “You bought me a book.”

“I did…” Keith answered. “Did you not… Like it?”

“No, that’s…” Lance was still frowning. “I haven’t owned anything for _years_.”

“You do now.” Keith said and bit his lower lip. The room started getting colder all of a sudden. “Did I… Did you not like it?”

“Keith…” Lance put the book down and looked at Keith more serious than he had ever looked at Keith. “This is the most incredible thing anyone’s ever done for me. I just…” Lance stopped himself. “I want to cry. And I can’t, which sucks.”

“Why?” Keith asked, worried. Lance smiled fondly at him and sighed.

“It’s my death anniversary, Keith.” Lance explained. “Today has been five years since I died.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so so so this was it lkdfajsçlkjds what do u think?  
> i got a TON of comments last chapter and because of last chapter and lbr :ooo i'm SHOOKETH u knOW?? thanks yall <3 yall are great <3333 lskfaçfjsdkç  
> anywaysss, i'm adapting this fic to bts (lkdsfaçjidfjsd they took over my LIFE) ad translating it to ptbr so if u know portuguese and wanna read it https://www.wattpad.com/story/193407815-ghostproof-%E2%80%A2-jikook  
> ao3 is a superior platform bc its search engine WORKS PROPERLY and bc u don't have to make covers for your fics you can just post shit and d o n e çl~slakdsk ayway
> 
> once again, consider buying me a metaphorical coffee: ko-fi.com/playlandi
> 
> and if you wanna talk to me outside of ao3 my social media are:  
> main instagram & main twitter: @playlandi  
> main tumblr and yt channel: @marsisnotcreative  
> les mis tumblr: @whensunscollide  
> my curious cat: @marsyparsy  
> side twitter: @_scenesaw (mainly bts lol)


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance spend the day together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> new chapter is here! classes start again next week so imma take longer to upload, but hey i aint dropping the fic no worries <3
> 
> consider buying me a coffee and supporting my writing and my creative stuff (and also my existence in general) : ko-fi.com/playlandi

Adam and Shiro told Keith they would take the next two days for themselves as a couple. Apparently some “recent events” had made them officially rethink their relationship and want to actually solve whatever problems they still had. Keith was happy to know they wanted to work things through, but he was definitely not going to attribute that victory to Lance. He knew Lance was proud of having helped, the look on his face said that, but Keith wasn’t going to acknowledge it. Not when it, one, had been accidental, and two, had resulted in his lava lamp getting broken.

Keith liked his lava lamp. Okay, he didn’t blame Lance and he wasn’t mad. But he also wouldn’t glorify Lance for the happening.

With Adam and Shiro out of the house, Lance and Keith managed to just exist without being worried. So whether Lance was visible or not, they were constantly talking, things were constantly moving around and Black was more often than not, seemingly, floating.

Saturday was harsh at first. Lance seemed upset almost the entire day, so Keith just let him dictate their activities and conversations and pace for a little bit more than half of the day. It was a weird day, no one seemed to be online ever, not Pidge, not Hunk, not Allura and Coran, not Matt. Adam and Shiro weren’t expected to, but the rest of the group… Keith tried not to overthink about it. Maybe it had something to do with all the secrets everyone had been keeping. And if they hadn’t talked about it up until then, they probably wouldn’t anytime soon, right?

But he had Lance and Lance more than ever needed Keith. So weird day or not, Lance was a priority.

“This sucks.” Lance said, closing his copy of Les Miserables for a second and putting it on top of the bed. Keith was resting his head against the wall, using his pillows so he wouldn’t have his back against something too hard; Lance was lying down on the opposite side, with his head next to Keith’s legs. He sat down. Keith put his 3DS down and raised one eyebrow. “Fantine doesn’t deserve any of this shit. I hate this book.” Keith chuckled.

“That’s why Hugo says in the preface that stories like this will be needed as long as the world keeps sucking.” Keith said and shrugged. Lance frowned.

“I hate it.” He declared and pouted for a second. “It’s really good, but… It’s too real and… I hate it.”

“It’s supposed to be real, Lance.” Keith smiled faintly. “How on earth are you already reading Fantine’s book?” Lance shrugged, smiling smugly.

“I’m a fast reader, mullet.” He answered. “I need a break. It’s too sad.”

“What was the last thing you read?” Keith asked, putting his own copy of the book aside and crossing his legs. Lance got closer to him.

“Fantine just sold her hair.” Lance answered. “Unfair. Like, she didn’t deserve any of what happened to her and she’s just trying so hard to help her kid it’s… Heart breaking.”

“It is. That’s the whole thing about the book. It’s literally a bunch of miserable people being miserable and getting wrecked by society and injustice. It’s supposed to be heart breaking. If it doesn’t break your heart it means you’re part of the problem.” Keith pointed out and Lance nodded, hugging his knees to his chest. “Are you…” Keith pointed.

“What? Materialised?” Lance asked and Keith nodded. “No, no… Don’t wanna risk having to leave early. Not today, at least.” Lance shrugged. “Why is this your favourite book, though? It’s sad.”

“It’s pretty funny too. Like… A lot of the Bishop’s shenanigans are funny and I guess I manage to see humour in… unfortunate stuff. I don’t want to spoil anything, but some parts are straight up romcom content, you know?” Keith smiled. “It’s also really real. All the characters are. You’re able to spot people you know who are just like some characters from the book, even if in different circumstances.” Lance hummed. “And it’s not all sad. It’s actually very hopeful if you think of it. It shows reality as it was and as it is, but it reminds you that giving up… It’s _never_ an option.” Lance blinked a few times and Keith offered him a wider smile.

“That’s very optimistic of you.” Lance pointed out and smiled too. Keith shrugged. “My favourite book is The Little Prince.” Keith raised an eyebrow at that. “I’m serious, it’s a really good book. Cliché or not. I love it.”

“It is a really good book.” Keith answered, chuckling. “I guess I was just… Surprised?” Lance huffed. “Sorry, sorry. It’s a great book, Lance.”

“I _know_.” Lance answered, chuckling too. “I even wanted to get a rose tattooed because of the book. I just… Didn’t really have enough time to do so.” Lance sighed. “Also because of Beauty and The Beast, which used to be my favourite Disney movie, so, like… Less pain, you know?” Lance smirked and Keith rolled his eyes, smiling too.  “Did you ever consider tattoos, mullet?” Keith hesitated.

“Not really, no.” Keith shrugged. “I do like them though. I just… It’s too permanent, you know? And… Nothing in life is. Nothing is supposed to be permanent, so the idea of permanent ink… I don’t know.”

“You know, you can just admit you’re scared of needles. It’s no shame. You don’t have to go all Shakespeare on me.” Lance answered and Keith rolled his eyes. “Come on, mullet, admit it.”

“I’m not scared of needles, Lance.” Keith answered and threw his pillow at Lance. The pillow went right through him and Lance laughed loudly, floating a bit. “I hate this whole ghost thing sometimes. I can’t even hit you with a pillow without you allowing me to.”

“Consent.” Lance answered and shrugged, smiling wide. He floated closer to Keith and smiled even more. “Come one, you can slap me or flick me or whatever.” He took Keith’s hand and took it to his face. Keith froze for a second.

He couldn’t stop himself; the feeling of Lance’s weirdly warm… Skin? Was that skin? Or just… Particles… Skin was also particles… Keith was confused, but that feeling made him cup Lance’s face with his hands.

Keith brushed his thumbs on Lance’s cheeks and swallowed loudly. Lance didn’t say a thing. He didn’t even breathe, but Lance didn’t need to. That made Lance hard to read. Because he didn’t react to things like living humans did. Keith felt lost. He looked deep into Lance’s ocean blue eyes and he felt absolutely lost. He was drowning.

So he just suddenly let go and flicked Lance’s arm.

“Hey!” Lance frowned.

“Nothing like the element of surprise.” Keith said and looked away, shrugging. Lance vanished. “Lance?” No answer. “Lance? Did you… Did I hurt you?” He waited. Still no answer. “Lance?” Keith tried louder this time and was met with silence. He felt his heart sink to his stomach. Had he messed up?

“Boo.” Lance whispered next to his ear and Keith let out a shriek. Lance laughed, roaring, appearing in front of Keith again, very near Keith’s face.

“You’re an _asshole_!” Keith declared. “An absolute asshole, goddamn it.” He took his hands to his heart. “You almost killed me, Lance.”

“I don’t kill, I’m just a prankster.” He smirked and Keith narrowed his eyes. “Chill, Keithy boy, you’re alive and well. It was just a small jumpscare.” Keith took a deep breath and let it all out, trying to calm himself down. “You were right: nothing like the element of surprise.”

“I’m going to go back to reading now.” Keith declared and got his book again. Lance’s smirk turned into a soft smile and Keith felt Lance’s lips against his cheek.

“Okay. I’m going to play with Black for a bit and let you read.” Lance answered. “I’ll be right back, okay, I’ll just go get her.” He said. “Promise.” Keith nodded and went back to his book.

But the warm feeling of Lance’s lips against his cheek wouldn’t let him concentrate.

Lance had kissed his cheek. That was not a drill. Lance had _actually_ kissed Keith’s cheek. Keith felt warm all over.

From the tips of his toes to the top of his head, he felt his entire body warm and fuzzy. It sucked. It was great. Keith was in a crisis. What did that mean? Did that mean Shiro was right and Keith was really in too deep? No. Lance was dead.

Lance was dead.

Lance was a ghost. Keith couldn’t go there. He wouldn’t go there. He had to help Lance. Besides, Lance would never… Feel something back. And even if he did… No. Lance was dead and Keith had to remind himself of that. Lance got back and Keith knew that because Black was floating and then she was on the floor, meowing at the air and jumping around.

Keith tried focusing on his book. He managed to read four more paragraphs before Lance’s lips on his cheek went back to his mind. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying not to act too weird. He wondered if Lance could feel it? Oh God.

Oh God, what if Lance could sense it? Lance had mentioned earlier that day that he was really susceptible to energy and everything was energy. What if that meant… Lance could feel how warm and fuzzy and bubbly Keith felt? No. No, no, no, no, no. That was bad. Lance was dead. That was bad. Keith was starting to freak out. Freaking out was bad; he couldn’t freak out. No, no, no, no, no. That was bad. Bad, bad.

“Keith?” Lance’s voice called him and he saw Lance, brows furrowed, kneeling next to him. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes.” Keith answered as quickly as he could. “I need to…” Keith pointed to the door. “Bathroom. I need to go to the bathroom, I’ve been… holding for a while now. I’ll… Be right back.”

“Don’t… Lie to me.” Lance said when Keith stood up. “Just tell me you don’t want to talk about it, but… Don’t lie to me.” He asked. Keith looked back and Lance looked sad. No, no, no, no, that was bad. Really bad.

“I might be starting to have a panic attack?” Keith answered and Lance’s eyes grew wide. “I’ll… Be in the bathroom, please… Just… Wait for me here, okay?” Lance nodded and Keith stormed off.

He had to calm himself down.

Keith locked the bathroom door and sat down on the floor. Shit, he had to breathe. It wasn’t a panic attack, he knew that. But he was panicking for sure. Lance had confirmed: he could sense something was wrong. That was a nightmare. But he hadn’t commented on anything else, so maybe Keith’s energy was all over the place. Lance seemed to have believed Keith was having a panic attack, which was… Good. Kind of.

It was bad. Keith had lied twice. But it meant Lance couldn’t exactly read Keith that well, right? So that was good. That was really good. It meant Keith was relatively safe. He only had to… Learn how to control his own emotions.

The guy who used to have anger management issues… Keith laughed at the irony. But he would manage. He had managed to get his anger in control, so his… other feelings – whatever they were – couldn’t be that hard, right?

Keith managed to calm himself down after some time, so he stood up, actually used the toilet, washed his hands and face and finally left the bathroom. Lance wasn’t visible, but Black was still jumping around, so Keith figured Lance really did wait for him.

“Sorry.” Keith said after he sat down on his bed. Lance was suddenly visible again. “I don’t know what triggered it.”

“It’s okay. I just worried. I started feeling something different and I… Couldn’t figure it out.” Lance explained. “People’s energies are different. Your anger doesn’t feel or vibrates the same way Shiro’s or Adam’s. I’ve experienced very little people having panic attacks and they’re always different. From person to person, but also from time to time. It varies on the intensity and all…” Keith hummed and nodded. “Just… I worry, Keith. So please don’t lie to me, okay? If I manage to understand your pattern of vibration I can try helping you calm down, but I need you to be honest with me for that.”

“Thanks, Lance.” Keith said and smiled faintly at him. Goddamn it. Lance was worrying about Keith. Lance wanted to help Keith.

“No problems, buddy.” Lance smiled back at him. “Black was worried too. Animals are way more aware of their susceptibility to energy than humans are, even though humans are also very easily influenced by energy too.” Lance caressed Black’s fur and Black purred. Lance chuckled. “Black seems to be exceptionally sensible to your energy, though. That’s probably why she loves you so much, right, Black?” Black meowed and Lance giggled. “Yeah, that’s right, girl.”

“What did she say?” Keith grabbed his book again and crossed his legs, resting his back against the wall again. Lance grabbed black and launched themselves onto the bed, landing on the spot he had been before. Black meowed.

“She said it’s our little secret. Sorry, mullet.” Lance answered and Keith rolled his eyes, smiling. Keith opened his book again and actually managed to go back to reading.

Every few paragraphs, though, he would stop and look at Lance and Black, playing together at the other end of the bed. It made him feel well. And mildly warm, but nothing that seemed too obvious, so he didn’t worry about Lance sensing that.

It could be from reading his favourite book. Or just from having a friend around.

Occasionally Lance would seem a little gloom, but cheer right back up with Black trying to rub herself on Lance, but ending up going through him. It never failed to make Lance chuckle. He seemed to have a special connection with the cat too. That made Keith happy.

Keith was glad Lance at least had Black to keep him company whenever Keith wasn’t around. Keith had to work and he always thought Lance would probably feel kind of lonely when he was out. Of course, Lance was probably used to it from all the years he had spent laying around just occasionally haunting families. Now he had books, he had Keith’s stuff to mess with and to borrow sometimes, he had Black. And he had Keith whenever Keith was around too. Lance wasn’t alone anymore.

That was good.

But Keith couldn’t help but wonder. Lance didn’t have anything before. He had no one to talk to, no one to keep him company. So why hadn’t he moved on yet? It made… Very little sense.

And wouldn’t having all of those things get in the way of Lance moving on? But he had said Keith could help him out with that, right? So maybe Lance did want to move on. Why did it seem so complicated?

Did he have something that was stopping him? Did he have any unfinished business? Usually in TV shows and films and books that stopped people from moving on, right? Did he die a gruesome death? But he had told Keith that didn’t matter really, hadn’t he?

What was required for someone moving on right after they had died? Did spending more time on Earth make it harder to move on? What if the longer the spirit spent down here, the harder it was for them to move on? And Lance had said… It had been five years.

Five whole years.

Lance had spent five years basically alone. That broke Keith’s heart. Lance deserved better than that. Okay, he had mentioned he had had some people… He’d had that little girl and the vengeful spirit. He’d also had another ghost who taught him most of what he knew, right? Keith remembered him telling something about another guy. Lance had told him that the other spirit had felt responsible for things back here, so he had chosen to stay and had moved on after two months of Lance talking to him about it.

But if the other spirit had _chosen_ to stay… Did it mean Lance had chosen to stay too? No… He recalled Lance specifically telling him that he didn’t think he was able to move on. What did that even mean?

“You feel weird again.” Lance’s soft voice made Keith snap out of his thoughts. “Also you’re frowning and you closed your book, like, five minutes ago…” Keith looked up and noticed Lance was watching him, carefully. Keith swallowed loudly, deciding to take his chance.

“Can I ask you something personal?” Keith asked and bit his lower lip. Lance nodded. “How did you... You know...”

“Died?” Lance asked and hugged his knees to his chest. Keith nodded. “I don’t remember. I remember being at the hospital, seeing myself lying down on the bed and absolutely freaking out. I ran all the way back home, but...” Lance stopped for a second and frowned. “I don’t remember a lot of it, to be honest. But I ended up here.”

“I thought you had said you hadn’t lived in this house.” Keith commented and Lance shook his head lightly.

“Yeah I didn’t.” Lance responded, eyes looking quite... dead. The irony hit Keith; Lance’s eyes never looked dead, they always seemed so alive. They always made Lance seem so alive. Lance was dead. Lance was dead. “I never got home.”

“Did you get lost?” Keith tried, but Lance frowned harder. Eyes still… creepily lifeless. Keith didn’t like that.

“I don’t want to talk about this.” Lance said and fell silent. Keith frowned and waited for a while. “Why did you bring this up anyway?” Lance asked, not looking at Keith’s face. Keith swallowed hard and decided not to tell Lance his entire thought  process.

“It’s just… I was thinking about the times we talked about you moving on.” He admitted and Lance frowned. “But I can’t really help you moving on if you don’t tell me stuff, you know? So…” Keith pointed out and a shiver ran through his spine when Lance’s expression changed. Lance was angry and Keith could _feel_ it; angry Lance wasn’t good.

“I might be dead, but I still have my right to privacy.” Lance’s voice sounded more like a snarl.

“I never said you didn’t, Lance.” Keith sighed, trying to find the right words. He didn’t want to make things worse. “I just thought it would be easier for me to help you if I knew more about your life, about your death... About…” Keith hesitated for a second. “You.” He tried explaining a little. “I don’t think I can help you with the little to no information I have now and you shouldn’t stay here forever.”

“So you want me gone.” Lance answered, bitterly. He laughed, but Keith could hear all the sarcasm in his laugh. “Okay. I get it. Makes sense.”

“What?” Keith said, frowning. “That’s not it, Lance.”

“What is it, then?” Lance hissed.

“You’re not meant to stay here forever. You said so yourself.” Keith couldn’t tell him everything, so he stumbled with his words. Lance stood up quickly; way faster than any normal human probably could. Keith regretted having asked. He regretted having said anything.

“ _I_ said it?” He asked and scoffed. “Don’t turn your shit on me, Keith.”

“But you did.” Keith sighed, trying not to lose his cool too. He didn’t deserve Lance’s rage like that. “When you were talking about your friend, mentor, something. I don’t even know. Since you’re always so secretive.” Keith snapped and regretted it instantly, but he had opened a door he wasn’t sure he could close.

“Don’t talk about Alfor.” Lance’s voice sounded a lot like a growl. Keith felt a stinging familiarity in that name, but his attention had turned to his stuffed hippo flying from his bed and landing on the floor. That hit Keith in a dangerous spot, he could feel himself losing his calmness.

“Come on, Lance! What the hell is your problem?” Keith asked, a little more stressed.

“Don’t mention him, don’t talk about him. What do you know, Keith? About him. About me. Nothing. You know _nothing_.” Lance said and Keith took a deep breath, trying to calm down again. He looked into Lance’s eyes as he stood up to grab his plushie from the floor.

“I’m just trying to help and you throw a tantrum like that...” Keith sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.” You know what? Forget I asked. It doesn’t matter. None of it does.” Keith said and Lance didn’t move at all, but Keith could feel the entire room getting colder by the second.

“Oh, doesn’t it now?” Lance laughed bitterly. “You know what, Keith? Maybe you’re right.” He took a step closer to Keith, who felt a shiver run down his spine. Keith had never seen Lance like that... his eyes were both dead and on fire at the same time; his face, usually so expressive and comforting, was almost entirely emotionless. It was, honestly, terrifying. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I’m really better off gone. There’ll be no one to throw tantrums then.” Keith scoffed, not being able to believe Lance had seriously taken what he said so wrongly.

“You know what? Whatever, Lance.” Keith simply said, trying to hold back from screaming at Lance. “Do whatever you want. You want to misinterpret my words like that? You want to go and never fucking show up again? Do it, pal. Just make sure to get your head out of your ass if you ever come back around.” Keith stared deeply into Lance’s eyes, getting drawn to them. Lance narrowed them slightly and Keith felt as if something cold and sharp was poking the left side of his chest. It didn’t hurt, it was just odd.

“ _Fuck you_ , Keith.” Lance said, lowly. “You’re going to regret this.”

“Hold up. Are you fucking _threatening_ me?” Keith frowned. Lance took one step closer to him and that was officially the last straw for Keith, who raised his voice gradually after every sentence. “What are you gonna do? Throw shit on me? Ruin my stuff? Burn the house down? Hurt Black? Hurt Shiro? Be my guest, Lance. Good luck dealing with your conscience all alone afterwards. Because _that’s_ what you’ll be: all alo-“

“Shut up!” Lance shouted, interrupting Keith. That cold, pointy feeling, poking at his chest, escalated into actual pain. It felt as if something freezing cold had gone through Keith’s chest and out his back and it hurt. Then Keith felt something forcefully pushing him onto the bed, some of his books fell from their shelves and the door slammed closed at the same time. But Lance hadn’t touched him. Lance hadn’t even moved. Keith’s eyes widened. Lance’s did so too. “I...” Lance started saying, still not moving. “Oh my God. I’m... sorry, I... What did I… I’m…” Lance looked at his hands, in terror. “I have to go.” And just like that he was gone.

“Lance, no!” Keith called, standing up. “Lance, come back!” He tried again, but got no answer at all. “Lance!” Keith called out, a bit lower this time around. He grabbed his stuffed hippo from the floor and stared at the mess that had been made, hugging the plushie close to his chest and sitting down back on the bed. “Whatever...” His voice was barely hearable, almost a whisper. “I don’t care.” Black meowed loudly. “I… don’t. I don’t care.” She snugged closer to Keith, jumping onto his lap and rubbing her head on Keith’s stomach. Keith felt his face wet. “I don’t care.” He tried drying his face and stopping the tears from coming down. Black meowed again and Keith felt himself break down. “I do care. I’m sorry.” He whispered, letting go the little control he still had and allowing himself to cry over what had happened, in hopes Lance would’ve heard his words.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> someone asked me if this was gonna be sad  
> it was but for different reasons than yall probably anticipated? i know lance seems dramatic, but he's all energy, shit hits him differently........ also he isn't used to people anymore, so.... anyway
> 
> once again, consider buying me a metaphorical coffee: ko-fi.com/playlandi
> 
> and if you wanna talk to me outside of ao3 my social media are:  
> main instagram & main twitter: @playlandi  
> main tumblr and yt channel: @marsisnotcreative  
> les mis tumblr: @whensunscollide  
> my curious cat: @marsyparsy  
> side twitter: @_scenesaw (mainly bts lol)


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